•FIRST   STEPS 

IN 

MENTAL  GROWTH 


A  SERIES  OF 
STUDIES  IN  THE  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  INFANCY 


Jt  BY 
DAVID   R.   MAJOR,   Ph.D. 


NEW  YCRK 

MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

LONDON:   MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Ltd. 
1906 

All  rights  reserved 


\A2- 


TUf 


£fiAL 


Copyright,  1906, 
By  the  MACMILLA.N  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  May,  1906. 


Berwick  k  Smith  Co.,  Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 


154965 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Arciiive 

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PREFACE 

The  Studies  composing  this  volume  are  based,  in  the 
main,  upon  a  record  which  I  kept  of  my  child  R.  from 
his  birth  to  the  end  of  his  third  year,  and  they  are  made 
up  in  large  measure  of  transcripts  from  my  note-books. 

The  principal  aim  of  the  Studies  is  to  present  data, 
observational  and  experimental,  bearing  upon  certain 
aspects  of  infant  mind  which  have  a  special  attraction 
for  me,  mainly  because  they  seem  to  be  fundamental  to 
later  mental  development;  also  for  the  reason  that  in 
studying  them  one  is  carried  back  to  the  rudimentary 
processes  from  which  spring  the  leading  characteristics 
of  the  developed  mind.  My  original  plan  was  to  make 
notes  as  full  as  time  would  permit  and  as  accurate  as 
possible,  and  then  to  print  the  bare  record.  But  this 
plan  was  abandoned  for  two  reasons  :  first,  it  was  found 
that  additional  explanation  was  necessary  to  make  the 
record  intelligible.  In  the  second  place,  one  cannot 
undertake  the  arrangement  of  material  of  this  kind 
without  thinking  about  it,  without  wondering  what  it 
means,  why  and  how  it  came  to  be  what  it  is,  what  were 
the  conditions  of  its  appearance,  what  are  its  inter-rela- 
tions, and  what  its  relation  to  later  mental  development. 

V 


VI  PREFACE 

Occasional  and  meager  attempts  to  answer  some  of  these 
questions  —  which,  if  answered  in  full,  would  constitute 
a  complete  theory  of  mental  development  in  the  indi- 
vidual —  have  found  a  place  in  the  book.  But  whatever 
interest  or  value  the  work  may  have  must  lie,  mainly,  in 
the  record  stripped  of  all  theory  and  interpretation  be- 
yond what  has  been  absolutely  necessary  for  the  presen- 
tation of  a  faithful  narrative,  which  is  the  leading  purpose 
of  the  undertaking.  Whatever  the  value  of  my  interpre- 
tation, I  hope  it  will  be  found  that  the  record  of  my 
observations  and  experiments  rings  true. 

It  will  be  inferred  from  what  has  been  said  already 

I     that  the  work  makes  no  pretension  to  being  a  complete 

I     treatise   on   the  **  Psychology  of  Infancy " ;   much  less 

'     does  it  profess  to  be  a  work  on  "  Genetic  Psychology." 

It  professes  only  to  be  a  presentation  of  empirical  data 

j     carefully   observed    and   accurately  recorded   regarding 

I     some  important  phases  of  infant  activity.     I  hope  that 

j     the  data  thus  furnished  will  be  of  use  to  psychologists 

I     who  may  be  engaged  in  the  formulation  of  a  theory  of 

[^    mental    development.     I   hope,  also,   that    besides   the 

/     psychologists  and  others  having  a  scientific  interest  in 

1      the  processes  of  mental  development,  the  Studies  will 

prove  of  interest  to  parents  and  teachers  whose  attitude 

toward  infancy  and  early  childhood  is  primarily  ethical 

and  practical,  and  that  they  may  be  suggestive  —  first,  as 

^     to  the  kinds  of  things  which  should  be  observed,  what 


PREFACE  Vll 

are  really  significant ;  and  second,  as  to  the  methods  of 
observation  which  are  hkely  to  yield  results  which  are 
worth  while. 

During  R/s  first  twenty  months  he  was  an  only  child 
in  a  small  family  of  adults.  The  advantages  of  having  as 
the  subject  for  one's  observations  an  only  child  are  obvi- 
ous enough.  The  disadvantage  is  that  a  child  thus 
isolated  from  his  kind  probably  falls  short  of  being  a 
typical  child.  Still,  this  disadvantage  tells  more  strongly 
in  later  childhood  than  in  infancy  and  early  childhood. 

In  the  preparation  of  the  Studies,  I  have  received 
much  assistance  from  Preyer's  pioneer  work,  "  The  Mind 
of  the  Child  "  (English  translation,  in  two  volumes,  by 
Professor  H.  W.  Brown) ;  Professor  Sully's  "  Studies  of 
Childhood  "  ;  Miss  Shinn's  "  Notes  on  the  Development 
of  a  Child,"  and  her  delightful  volume,  "  The  Biography 
of  a  Baby  "  ;  and  Professor  Baldwin's  "  Mental  Develop- 
ment in  the  Child  and  the  Race."  I  have  also  consulted 
a  large  number  of  books  and  articles  on  special  points, 
and  acknowledgment  of  the  help  received  from  them  is 
made  in  footnotes  and  references  throughout  the  work. 

It  is  a  pleasure  to  acknowledge  the  invaluable  service 
rendered  by  my  colleague.  Dr.  A.  E.  Davies,  in  revising^ 
the  work  in  manuscript.  I  have  further  to  thank 
Professors  E.  B.  Titchener  and  G.  M.  Whipple  of 
Cornell  University,  who  read  critically  the  greater  part  of 
the   book   in   manuscript,    for    many   valuable    sugges- 


Vlll  PREFACE 

tions;  and  my  wife  for  constant  help  in  making  the 
observations  reported  in  the  Studies,  and  in  correcting 
the  proofs. 

David  R.  Major. 

The  Ohio  State  University,  Columbus. 
March,  1906. 


CONTENTS 


r 

PAGE 


CHAPTER  I 

Introduction i 

CHAPTER  II 

Development  of  Hand  and  Arm  Movements i6 

Classification  of  hand  and  arm  movements 17 

Spontaneous  or  automatic  hand-movements 18 

Reflex  hand-movements 21 

^     Instinctive  hand-movements 22 

Reaching  and  grasping         22 

'            R.'s  learning  to  reach  and  grasp 23 

Ideational  hand-movements 27 

Learning  to  use  the  hands 27 

Learning  to  use  a  spoon  and  fork 30 

«         to  throw  a  ball  .    .    .    .    / 32 

««         to  catch  a  ball 35 

«         to  turn  a  door-knob  to  open  a  door 35 

«'         to  turn  leaves  in  books  and  magazines 37 

««         to  use  a  pair  of  scissors 38 

«*         to  screw  the  top  on  a  paste-bottle 39 

"         to  put  on  his  own  shoes '  .  40 

Picking  up  and  manner  of  holding  cups,  glasses,  etc.  ...  4-1 

Additional  hand-movements 42 

Use  of  the  right  and  left  hands 43 

CHAPTER  III 

Drawing 47 

First  stage, — Crude,  imitative  hand-flourishes 47 

Second  stage, — The  first  purposive  penciling 48 

Third  stage, — Scribbling  for  the  pleasure  it  gives 49 

Foiuth   :;  ige, — Awakening  of  interest  in  drawings  which  are 

made  ;  r  the  child 50 

Fifth  stage, — Period  of  circular  figures   .    .            51 

Sixth  stag^, — The  beginning  of  copying  models 54 

Seventh  i<tage, — The  gradual  differentiation  of  forms  .....  55 

R.'s  learjiiiig  to  draw  "  man  " 56 

General  nofects  of  early  drawings 61 

(1)    :  ncomplete  enumeration  of  parts 61 

^ :   Wrong  placing  of  parts 64 

s  i   Proportion  ...                66 

(4)   Imperfect  representation  of  the  several  parts  or  features  67 

ix 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  IV 

The  Feelings  and  Their  Expression 72 

Sense-feelings 74 

Feelings  of  pleasure 75 

Unpleasant  feelings 80 

Emotions 83 

Fear 83 

Sound  fears 88 

Fear  of  visible  things 94 

Fear  of  animals      97 

Fear  of  cats 98 

«     of  dogs 101 

"     of  insects   , 103 

"     of  horses 104 

"     of  wild  animals 105 

"     of  strangers 106 

"     of  storms 109 

«     of  falling        Ill 

"     of  a  new-born  baby 113 

"     of  furs 114 

Miscellaneous  fears   .        115 

Anger 117 

CHAPTER  V 

Development  OF  Imitation 124 

Reflex  imitation 125 

Conscious  imitation   .    .        127 

Imitation  of  other  persons' bodily  movements 131 

Memory  images  as  stimuli  to  imitative  reactions  , 132 

Purposive  imitation ^ 133 

Rapid  growth  of  the  imitative  impulse   .    .    .    .^V.""-,,  ....  134 

Spontaneity  and  promptness  of  the  imitative  response^)  ....  135 

Dramatic  imitation 136 

Imitation  of  fine  movements  .,^^.- 137 

Imitation  of  complex  actions 138 

Imitative  actions  as  means  to  desired  ends 140 

Imitation  in  order  to  improve  one's  ideas 141 

Impulse  to  imitate  new  actions 142 

Influence  of  outdoors  living  upon  imitative  conduct 144 

CHAPTER  VI 

Color 146 

Color  discrimination 146 

Teaching  the  child  R.  color  names         .        ,    .  151 

Experiments  to  determine  R.'s  color  preferences ir8 


\ 


K  ;ip  CONTENTS 


XI 


PAGE 

CHAPTER  VII 

Number 162 

CHAPTER  VIII 

Form      174 

Teaching  simple  geometrical  forms 176 

Application  of  form  names 179 

^Esthetic  interest  in  form 181 

CHAPTER  IX 

Association 182 

CHAPTER  X 

Memory 202 

Rudimentary  memory   .    .    , 202 

Habit-meinory 204 

Primary  memory  images 205 

Imitative  memory 206 

Differences  between  infant  and  adult  memory 208 

CHAPTER  XI 

'maginatiom 226 

Beginnings  of  imagination 228 

Imaginc.tion  in  practical  inventions 231 

Rnitati\e  play 234 

Constructive  imagination  in  free,  uncontrolled  play 235 

Assimilative  imagination 238 

CHAPTER  XII 

VY   . 239 

Recorjd  of  the  principal  forms  of  R.'s  play •  240 

CHAPTER  XIII 

iUtvi.., 250 

Obsjervations  and  experiments 258 

Naming  pictures  of  animals 259 

"       drawings  of  a  human  face 261 

"       photographs     .    .    , ' 264 

"       « divided "  pictures 265 

CHAPTER  XIV 

IjEI     'ior  of  the  Child  Before  His  Image 268 


Xll  CONTENTS 

Language     

Stages  in  the  speech-learni'  ;^  prx'';>^ 261 

(1)  Reflexive  crying 282 

(2)  Differentiation  of  crying  in  discomfort    .  284 

(3)  Expressions  of  cOiUiort      285 

(4)  Soothing  and  har  h  sounds  distinguished 286 

(5)  Crowing  and  pre- linguistic  babbling 286 

(6)  The  association  of  words  heard  with  definite  objects, 

events,  and  situations 288 

(7)  The  association  bi  .we^'.n  statements  and  requests  of 

others  and  definite  actions  in  response  on  the  child's 
part 291 

(8)  The  beginnings  of  imitalive  speech ,.  293 

(9)  The  use  of  sountS  and  words  to  express  wialies  and 

ideas 294 

The  development  of  the  sen  ie nee 298 

Defects  of  the  child's  firsi  sentence^j: — (i)  as  la  thi;  number 

of  words;  (2)  as  to  the  <  ider  of  words;  (3)  as  to  inflection; 

(4)  use  of  pronouns;  (5)  i';  ^he  manner  of  e.xpressing\negation      ^f>3 

Extension  of  the  application  ^^f  words \  ■    •    • 

Summary  of  the  principal  fatiu-es  of  R.'s  speech  activities  d 

ing  his  second  and  third  years     ... 

Vocabulary  of  the  child  R. 26 

Changes  in  the  pronunciation  of  uorck  3?*' 

Tests  in  articulation  .... 

Appendixes  :  '  \ 


Index 


I. 

Sight 

334 

Coordination  oi  eve-movements 

M 

Sensitiveness  t(    'i<^h; 

o.>5 

Perception  of  d        ; 

337 

Learning  to  look- 

339 

Movements  of  the  eyelids 

44 

11. 

Hearing 

44 

First  sound  sensations    .    . 

■45 

Turning  in  the  direction  of  sc^i: 

^6 

III. 

Learning  to  stand  alone 

7 

IV. 

Learning  to  walk     ...            

V. 

Table  of  measurements  of  R.  and            -  -  birth  ro  Lhc  • 

of  the  second  year 

VI. 

The  play  of  a  one  year  old  baby 

LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

FIGURE  I,  illustrating  R.'s  pencilings  in  the  twelfth,  thirteenth, 
fourteenth,  sixteenth,  eighteenth  and  twenty-fourth 
months 46 

"  2,  illustrating  the  "  pictorial  evolution  of  a  *  man'  "...      57 

"  3,  illustrating  seven  stages  in  R.'s  learning  to  draw  a  horse,      62 

"  4,  four  stages  in  learning  to  draw  "  choo-choo  "  (locomo- 
tive)            65 

"  5,  contains  a  miscellaneous  collection  of  drawings, — an 
elephant,  a  "  wow-wow,"  a  triangle,  a  right  angle,  a 
square,  and  an  O ,    .    .      69 

"  6,  reproduction  of  the  drawings  of  the  human  face  which 
were  used  in  the  experiments  described  in  the  section 
on  Pictures .' 262 


PLATE  I  {^facing  page  r6),  illustrating  five  changes  in  the  posi- 
tions of  the  hands  in  learning  to  catch  a  ball. 

PLATE  II  {^facing page  72).  Fig.  i,  R.  throwing  pebbles  on  ice 
("  boad  ")  to  see  them  glide — thirty-sixth  month  ;  Fig. 
2  shows  grimaces  when  unable  to  recall  form  name  of 
a  card — see  pages  176  and  223  ;  Fig.  3,  showing  expres- 
sion of  slight  fear  which  R.  experienced  when  he  was 
lifted  and  set  astride  the  limb  of  a  tree,  see  page  1 12  f. ; 
Figs.  4  and  5  give  J.'s  expression  when  he  was  re- 
proved (twentieth  month)  ;  Figs.  6  and  7  show  the  posi- 
tion of  the  hand  for  two  periods  (tenth  and  twenty-ninth 
months)  when  reaching  for  desired  objects. 

PLATE  III  {facing page  1 24).  Figs,  i  and  2  illustrate  two  imita- 
tive movements  described  on  page  134;  Fig.  3  illus- 
trates an  early  form  of  the  imitative  shake  of  the  hand 
— see  page  128;  Fig.  4  is  a  "sleepy  rub"  of  the  eyes 
and  nose  ;  Fig.  5  shows  a  seventeen  months  old  child's 
manner  of  grasping  a  spoon  wlien  feeding  himself. 

xiii 


xiv  LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

PLATE  IV  {facing page  239).  The  five  figures  of  this  Plate  re- 
late to  three  of  R.'s  play  interests  :  Fig.  i,  the  child  is 
holding  two  balls  in  the  left  hand  and  throwing  a  third 
with  the  right ;  Fig,  2,  he  is  crying  because  M.  took  a 
ball  away  from  him ;  Fig.  3,  he  is  admiring  a  ball 
which  M.  is  showing  him  ;  Fig.  4,  he  is  holding  a  little 
wagon  which  was  a  favorite  plaything  of  the  twentieth 
to  twenty-third  months ;  Fig.  5  shows  the  child  making 
a  "  choo-choo  "  (thirty-fifth  month)  by  arranging  brick- 
bats in  a  row. 


First  Steps  in  Mental  Growth 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION 

It  is  a  truism  that  since  the  appearance  of  the  Origin 
of  Species  the  appHcation  of  the  evolutionary  hypothesis 
to  the  interpretation  and  illumination  of  the  problems  of 
human  thought  and  conduct  has  been  widened  until  now 
no  field  of  inquiry  escapes  its  influence.  And  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  greater  part  of  the  scientific 
work  of  the  last  half  century  has  been  done  under  the 
stimulus  of  Darwin  and  of  the  conceptions  and  methods 
which  he  developed  and  illustrated.  Modern  science  is 
concerned  primarily  with  the  historical  and  genetic  as- 
pects of  phenomena,  with  their  origin  and  the  order  of 
their  development.  The  astronomer,  e.  g.,  asks  how  a 
solar  system  originates,  and  what  are  the  forces  operative 
in  its  development;  the  biologist  wishes  to  know  the 
primitive  organisms  from  which  spring  the  more  highly 
developed  forms  of  plant  and  animal  life ;  the  historian 
and  sociologist  study  the  Hfe  and  institutions  of  primitive 
peoples  in  search  of  the  origin  of  the  customs  and  usages 
which  are  fundamental  in  social  groups. 

I 


2  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

The  same  kind  of  curiosity  which  impels  the  astrono- 
mer, the  biologist,  arid  the  sociologist  to  search  out  tbe 
primitive  forms  in  their  respective  fields,  prompts  also  to 
the  study  of  the  ways  of  infancy;  particularly,  to  the 
effort  to  bring  to  light  the  germinal  processes  from  which 
spring  the  characteristic  activities  of  the  developed  mind. 
Accordingly,  we  have  witnessed,  in  comparatively  recent 
years,  the  rise  of  a  wide-spread  interest  in  the  psychology 
of  infancy.  A  few  investigators,  notably  Darwin,  have 
been  attracted  to  the  study  of  the  infant  mind 
through  reflection  on  the  physical  and  mental  rela- 
tions of  man  to  the  lower  animals.  Preyer  began  his 
study  of  the  child,  as  he  says  in  his  preface,  "  from  the 
physiological  point  of  view,  with  the  object  of  arriving 
at  an  explanation  of  the  origin  of  the  separate  vital 
processes."  Later,  Preyer  divided  his  work  into  three 
parts  :  (i)  life  in  the  embryo,  (2)  the  physical  develop- 
ment of  the  newly  born  and  the  very  young  child,  (3) 
mental  development  in  infancy  and  early  childhood. 
Preyer's  interest,  at  first,  was  in  the  phenomena  of  phys- 
ical development,  and  his  work.  Die  Seele  des  KindeSy 
though  rich  in  the  data  of  child  psychology,  has  —  from 
the  psychological  point  of  view  —  the  defects  of  a  work 
written  by  one  who  was  physiologist  rather  than  psy- 
chologist. 

A  larger  number  of  students  of  infancy  and  early  child- 
hood have  been  interested  primarily  in  the  phenomena  of 


INTRODUCTION  3 

mental  development  —  in  a  word,  have  been  psychologists,  "" 
who  believe  thatyf  they  can  discover  the  first  buddings,  the 
first,  tentative  shootings-forth  of  the  baby's  mind,  they  will 
know  better  the  nature  of  the  developed  mind  —  its 
essential  processes  and  their  relationships,  their  fusions 
and  correlations. 

Besides  the  naturalists  and  the  psychologists,  whose 
chief  concern  is  to  know  the  child  mind,  a  still  larger 
number  of  students  —  chiefly  parents  and  teachers  —  are 
attracted  to  child  psychology  for  practical  and  moral 
reasons.  As  Sully  observes  :  —  ♦'  The  modern  world, 
while  erecting  the  child  into  an  object  of  aesthetic  con- 
templation, while  bringing  to  bear  on  him  the  bull's-eye 
lamp  of  scientific  observation,  has  become  sorely  troubled 
about  the  momentous  problem  of  rearing  him."  Parents 
and  teachers  "  have  come  to  see  that  a  clear  insight  into 
child-nature  and  its  spontaneous  movements,  must  pre- 
cede any  intelligent  attempt  to  work  beneficially  upon 
this  nature."  ^  To  be  sure,  the  chief  concern  at  first,  par- 
ticularly of  the  mother,  is  the  baby's  physical  well-being 

—  the  basis  of  normal  moral  and  intellectual  development 

—  and  to  that  she  will  devote  her  best  energies.  But 
since  education  begins  at  the  cradle  —  some  one  has  said, 
"  heredity  really  begins  at  the  cradle  " —  the  parent  will 
wish  to  understand  the  characteristics  of  the  baby's  mind 

1  Sully,  Siudigs  of  Childhood,  New  York,  1896,  p.  10. 


4  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

as  well  as  those  of  his  body.  No  doubt  every  properly 
constituted  parent  is  interested  in  such  important  events 
as  the  appearance  of  the  first  tooth  ;  he  will  ask  when  the 
stubby,  mere  appendage-like  legs  will  catch  up  with  the 
long  body;  and  he  will  be  curious  to  know  when  the 
ludicrous  asymmetrical  performances  of  the  two  eyes 
will  disappear,  and  many  more  similar  things  pertaining 
to  the  physical  development  of  the  child.  '  And  he  will  be 
interested  in  the  rise  and  development  of  such  psychophys- 
ical processes  as  standing  alone,  learning  the  "  bye  bye  " 
salutation,  the  beginnings  of  speech  and  the  like.  He  will 
have  reason  also  to  watch  the  more  mental  processes  like 
fear,  anger,  imitation,  memory.  And  I  cannot  but  think 
that  thus  to  study  the  child  will  result  in  better  methods 
of  training  than  to  follow  the  lead  of  bHnd  instinct  or  un- 
reflecting rule-of-thumb  methods.  Moreover,  I  have  no 
sympathy  with  the  superstition  that  the  desire  to  under- 
stand is  at  war  with  the  normal  growth  of  parental  affec- 
tion and  tender  regard,  any  more  than  I  believe  that  the 
desire  to  know  nature's  ways  in  the  physical  world  inter- 
feres with  one's  aesthetic  appreciation  and  delight  in  the 
wonders  of  earth  and  sky. 

What  interest  can  a  teacher  have  in  the  ways  of  in- 
fancy ?  One  may  say,  "  I  see  the  ground  for  the  interest 
which  a  parent  might  have  in  a  study  of  infant  activities, 
but  what  is  the  profit  for  teachers,  who  (excepting  those  in 
the  kindergartens)  are  concerned  with  children  well  past 


INTRODUCTION  5 

the  period  of  infancy  ? "  This  may  be  answered  in  a 
word.  It  is  a  commonplace  of  our  thinking  that  what  a 
thing  is  cannot  be  known  unless  one*  knows  what  it  was 
like  formerly,  what  were  tlie  conditions  which  preceded 
and  from  which  it  arose.  So  of  the  mental  processes 
of  the  child  at  school :  in  order  to  know  what  they  are 
like  now,  we  must  know  what  they  were  like  primitively, 
in  their  rudimentary  forms.  And  since  it  is  impossible 
for  the  teacher  to  know  the  infancy  of  all  her  pupils,  the 
next  best  thing  is  to  know  the  leading  traits  of  the  in- 
fant mind  in  general,  its  native  tendencies,  impulses,  ca- 
pacities, activities.  To  change  slightly  James'  well  known 
definition  of  teaching  — "  The  teacher's  art  consists  in 
grafting  complications  on  native  reactions,  or  in  bringing 
about  a  change  in  the  nature  of  the  reaction  which  given 
situations  originally  tend  to  provoke.  And  success  in 
the  art  presupposes  a  sympathetic  acquaintance  with  the 
reactive  tendencies  natively  there."  ..."  The  first 
thing  then  for  the  teacher  to  understand,"  James  writes  in 
a  later  paragraph  of  the  same  work,  "  is  the  native  reactive 
tendencies  —  the  impulses  and  instincts  of  childhood  —  so 
as  to  be  able  to  substitute  one  for  another,  and  turn  them 
on  to  artificial  objects."^  Dewey  expresses  the  same 
thought  as  follows  :  — "  All  conduct  springs  ultimately 
and  radically  out  of  native  instincts  and  impulses.     We 

1  Talks  on  Psychology y  New  York,  1899,  PP*  38,  43. 


6  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

must  know  what  these  native  instincts  and  impulses  are, 
and  what  they  are  at  each  particular  stage  of  the  child's 
development,  in  (5rder  to  know  what  to  appeal  to  and 
what  to  build  upon."  ^  The  quotations  from  James  and 
Dewey  state,  in  brief,  the  ground  for  the  belief  that 
teachers  will  derive  benefit  from  a  study  of  the  way^  of 
infancy. 

I  have  spoken  of  some  of  the  reasons  which  have  led 
scientists  and  educators  to  the  study  of  child  mind,  and  of 
some  of  the  benefits  and  advantages  which  may  be  de- 
rived from  such  study.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place 
to  speak  next  of  the  conditions  and  difficulties  of  obser- 
vation in  the  field  of  child  psychology.  The  condition 
of  successful  observation  is  substantially  the  same  as  in 
other  fields ;  namely,  an  open  mind  well  stored  with 
knowledge  about  the  phenomena  under  consideration. 
One  must  know  what  to  look  for,  what  is  significant  and 
essential,  and  what  is  trivial  and  accidental ;  and  one  must 
be  willing  to  see  what  is  actually  there.  One  needs,  also, 
a  certain  blending  of  imaginative  insight  with  reserve  and 
caution  when  making  a  record  of  infants'  ways.  It  is 
difficult  to  tell  the  exact  truth  even  about  so  simple  a 
thing  as  the  baby's  grasp  of  a  pencil,  or  the  first  crowing 
and  babbling.  The  phenomena  of  child  life  are  so 
elusive,   even   on   the  physical   side,  as   to  require  the 

1  Third  Year-Book  of  the  Herbart  Society ,  Chicago,  1897,  p.  27. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

highly  sensitized  photographic  plate  to  catch  what  ac- 
tually happens,  and  ordinary  language  is  too  clumsy  an 
instrument  for  adequate  description.  And  this  leads  me 
to  speak  next  of  the  difficulties  and  dangers  which  beset 
the  scientific  study  of  childhood  and  infancy. 

One  snare  which  marks  the  way  of  the  student  of 
infant  ways  is  the  desire  to  fix  with  exactness  the  dates 
of  the  first  appearance  of  given  abilities  or  functions. 
The  search  for  beginnings,  the  absolutely  first  appearance 
of  definite  processes  Hke  turning  the  head  when  looking 
for  the  source  of  a  sound,  reaching  for  objects  and  grasp- 
ing, anger,  fear,  imaging,  recognizing  and  the  like  will 
always  end  in  failure  for  the  reason  that  there  are  no 
complete  breaks  in  the  chain  of  experience  which  warrant 
one  in  saying,  "at  that  moment  the  child  could  not 
do  so  and  so,  at  the  next  he  could."  ^     And  when  one 


'  During  a  period  of  three  and  a  half  years  of  pretty  constant  watching 
of  my  own  two  children,  I  saw  only  one  acquired  ability  which  had  the 
appearance  of  coming  "  all  at  once,"  and  that  was  the  child  J.'s  creeping 
on  hands  and  knees,  which  I  first  noticed  on  the  first  day  of  his  second 
year.  The  child's  first  method  of  getting  about  the  room  was  to  lie  flat 
on  his  stomach,  extend  his  arms  in  front  of  him,  and  then  pull  himself 
forward  by  the  fore-arms  and  elbows,  the  hands  playing  only  a  small  part 
in  the  movement.  This  method  of  creeping  began  near  the  middle  of  the 
eleventh  month,  and  continued  to  the  end  of  the  first  year.  During  the 
forenoon  of  the  first  day  of  the  second  year,  I  saw  the  child  creeping  in 
the  usual  way,  i.  e.,  lying  flat  on  his  stomach  and  pulling  himself  forward 
by  his  arms.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  same  day,  I  saw  him  lean  forward 
from  a  sitting  position  to  his  hands  and  knees,  and  creep  a  distance  of  two 
feet.     From  that  time,  I  never  saw  him  use  the  first  method  of  getting 


8  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

attempts  to  fix  the  date  of  the  appearance  of  a  particular  J 
kind  of  mental  activity,  the  difficulty  is  increased  by.^be^ 
fact  that  in  infancy  mental  processes  are  Ij^lfcitricately 
interwoven  with  organic,  semi-conscious  phe^ftena  tljlit    a 
the  dawn  of  a  particular  kind  of  consciousnJ^^HHp  be    i 
determined.     We  have  seen  a  bed  of  plants  \^^^tems 
above  ground  stood  apart  from  the  stems  of  the  neigh- 
bouring plants,  and  we  have  thought  it  not  impossible  to 
trace  to  their  remotest  ends  the  roots  of  the  individual 
plants.     But  when  we  dig  beneath  the  surface,  we  may 
find  that  the  stems  ^bove  ground  have  sprung  from  a 
common  root-stock,  or  that  the  roots  have  grown  to- 
gether and  form  a  mass,  an  inextricable  net-work  of  root- 
lets so  that  the  searcJh  for  the  roots  of  a  particular  plant  is 
in  vain.     The  child's  several  abilities  and  functions  arise 
out  of  a  net- work  of  instinctive  tendencies  which  may  be 
likened    to    the    intertwined    and  tangled  rootlets  from 
which  spring  the  separate  plant  stems.     In  both  cases, 


about  the  room,  and  the  new  method  of  creeping  on  hands  and  knees 
developed  rapidly,  so  that  the  note  for  the  eighth  day  of  the  second  year 
reads,  "  The  child  creeps  everywhere  about  the  house  on  his  hands  and 
knees,  and  with  evident  enjoyment.  He  seems  eager  to  creep,  does  not 
want  to  be  held  on  one's  lap,  wants  to  creep  just  for  the  fun  of  creeping." 
This,  as  was  said,  was  the  only  acquired  ability  noted  which  was  not 
slowly  developed  by  practice.  And  in  this  case,  one  cannot  be  sure  that 
there  was  not  preliminary  practice  in  resting  on  the  hands  and  knees 
which  escaped  our  notice  —  for  instance,  movmg  about  when  he  was  in  his 
crib  after  his  nap  was  over,  and  before  he  made  an  outcry  to  let  us  know 
that  he  was  ready  to  be  taken  up. 


N 


INTRODUCTION  9 

search  for  beginnings  —  in  the  strict  sense  of  that  term  — 
ssJfutile. 

^Jj^HlJlst  seen  that  one  is  likely  to  be  disappointed. 
ifSne  s'Bai'&es  for  the  first  beginnings,  the  first  appear- 
anSfcof  particular  kinds  of  child  activity.  We  have 
next^te^^^serve  that  there  are  no  sudden  leaps  in  the 
various  phases  of  the  developmental  process  after  they 
have  once  begun.  Indeed,  the  one  thing  which,  for  the  ■ 
writer,  stands  out  more  prominently  than  any  other,  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  observations  recorded  in  these  Studies ^  is  the  fact 
that  the  child  acquires  his  various  abilities  by  slow,  almost 
imperceptible  steps.  He  is  possessed  of  a  vast  number  of 
native  instincts  or  impulses,  and  these  make  their  appear- 
ance by  infinitesimal  steps  or  degrees.  For  example,  the 
instincts  to  reach  and  grasp,  to  imitate,  to  walk,  to  talk 
—  all  come  to  perfection  gradually.  To  be  sure,  the  proc- 
ess is  more  rapid  in  some  lines  than  in  others  ;  but  in 
the  most  rapid  there  are  no  absolute  breaks  which 
warrant  one  in  saying,  "  at  this  moment  a  child  lacks  a 
certain  ability,  the  next  he  has  it."  Hence,  when  it  is 
said  that  an  ability  or  function  seemed  to  burst  forth  of  a 
sudden,  it  should  be  remembered  that  it  was  only  seem- 
ing and  not  actual.  Of  course,  in  this  general  statement 
one  excepts  such  organic  reflex  actions  as  clasping  with 
the  fingers,  sucking,  and  a  few  others  which  are  well 
developed  —  though  rarely  perfect  —  at  birth. 

Another  impression  which  is  constantly  borne  in  upon 


lO  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

one  is  that  an  account  of  infant  activities  which  analyzes 
whole  pieces  of  conduct,  which  isolates  and  detaches 
elements  or  factors  of  a  total  experience  for  purposes  of 
description,  is  likely  to  result  in  disfigurement  rather  than 
in  accurate  picturing  and  explanation  of  the  piece  of  con- 
duct thus  analyzed.  An  important  principle  of  modern 
scientific  method  is  that  if  one  would  know  the  real 
nature  and  meaning  of  a  phenomenon,  one  must  see  it  in 
its  complete  setting,  and  conversely  that  a  process  of  de- 
taching and  isolating  inevitably  gives  a  partial  and  im- 
perfect notion  of  the  phenomenon  thus  detached  from  its 
natural  setting.  Accordingly  one  finds  a  number  of 
writers  on  the  psychology  of  child  development — Dewey, 
Sully,  and  King,  for  example — laying  much  emphasis  on 
wholeness  of  view  as  a  necessary  condition  of  the  right 
understanding  of  child  conduct.  Thus  King  in  the 
Preface  to  his  The  Psychology  of  Child  Development 
writes,  "  These  pages  emphasize  the  point  that  the 
attempt  to  study  isolated  elements  of  the  child's  life  is 
radically  unscientific;  that  we  must  have  as  nearly  as 
possible  the  complete  setting  of  an  act  before  we  are  en- 
titled to  say  what  it  is  or  what  it  means."  And  again  on 
a  later  page  King  writes,  "  We  can  only  say  of  the  proc- 
ess in  hand  that  it  arises  in  such  a  situation  and  per- 
forms a  certain  function.  We  thus  do  not  do  it  the 
violence  of  trying  to  label  it  according  to  its  most 
prominent  characteristic,  ignoring  the  others  as  mere  ap- 


INTRODUCTION  II 

purtenances  that  it  were  really  better  to  lop  off  in  order  to 
get  at  the  real,  the  essential  content.  .  .  .  The  state 
itself  is  a  unit,  and  must  be  treated  so  ;  its  complexity 
can  be  defined  only  on  the  side  of  its  use  in  the  entire 
activity."  ^ 

The  correctness  of  the  point  of  view  indicated  by  the 
quotations  from  King,  no  one  who  lays  his  "  faculty  " 
psychology  on  the  shelf  and  gives  himself  to  the  observa- 
tion of  a  child's  ways  will  be  hkely  to  question.     If  one 


>  How  important  it  is  to  take  account  of  all  the  conditions  surrounding 
an  action,  how  liable  one  is  to  go  astray  in  interpreting  a  bit  of  child  con- 
duct may  be  illustrated  by  a  paragraph  from  my  note-book,  as  follows ; 
One  day  when  R.  was  a  little  past  his  tenth  month  I  was  holding  him  in 
my  lap  as  I  sat  at  my  study-table.  Suddenly,  the  child  reached  over, 
pulled  open  the  table-drawer,  and  began  to  pull  out  papers,  pencils,  boxes 
of  pens,  stamp  boxes  and  other  miscellany  scattered  about  in  the  drawer. 
At  first  thought,  one  might  have  said  —  in  fact  a  by-stander  did  say  —  "  the 
child  pulled  the  drawer  open  to  get  the  articles  in  the  drawer."  But  when 
the  complete  setting  is  given,  one  gets  a  much  simpler  explanation,  and, 
no  doubt,  the  true  one.  In  the  first  place,  the  knob  had  a  bright  brass 
ornament  which  attracted  the  child's  attention,  and  which  he  reached  for 
and  seized.  When  he  seized  the  knob,  naturally  he  pulled  and  the  drawer 
came  open.  In  pulling  the  drawer  nearer  him,  he  lost  sight  of  the 
knob  with  its  bright  ornament.  Moreover,  the  array  of  new  things  in  the 
open  drawer  caught  his  eye,  and  he  began  at  once  to  pick  them  up,  pull 
them  from  the  drawer,  and  scatter  them  on  the  table  and  about  the  room 
on  the  floor.  Thus  instead  of  attributing  memory,  judgment,  purposive- 
ness  to  the  child  in  order  to  explain  his  pulling  the  drawer  open,  one 
needs  only  the  instinct  to  reach  for  and  seize  objects  which  are  within 
reach ;  and  that  impulse  at  that  time  was  strong.  For  another  illustration 
of  the  principle  that  correct  interpretation  requires  that  one  know  the 
complete  setting,  see  Chapter  VI  on  Color^  especially  page  148  following; 
also  Baldwin,  Mental  Development,  Vol.  I,  p.  39fF. 


12  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

attempts  to  find  definite,  elementary,  mental  processes 
like  willing,  remembering,  and  the  like,  and  uses  such 
terms  to  describe  concrete  bits  of  infant  activity  he  will 
surely  miss  the  wood  among  the  trees,  and  what  is  woi-se 
he  will  see  trees  where  there  is  only  a  tangle  of  under- 
brush. And  yet,  while  one  wishes  to  lay  stress  upon  the 
importance  of  keeping  constantly  in  mind  that  wholeness 
of  view  is  a  necessary  condition  of  truthful  interpretation, 
one  remembers,  on  the  other  hand,  that  description  in- 
volves a  process  of  analysis.  The  situation  is  a  complex, 
and  one  cannot  say  everything  at  once.  It  is  just  as 
futile  to  sit  and  gaze  pensively  at  the  whole  of  a  piece  of 
conduct  as  it  is  apt  to  be  misleading  to  detach  its  ele- 
ments for  closer  scrutiny.  It  is  necessary  to  see  that  the 
wood  is  made  up  of  trees,  and  it  is  necessary  that  we 
know  the  trees  if  we  would  know  the  wood.  To  drop 
the  figure,  one  does  not  search  for  elements  of  child 
activity  merely  for  the  purpose  of  "  psychologizing  "  that 
activity.  The  process  of  resolving  a  complex  situation, 
of  rendering  its  meaning  clear,  of  getting  at  its  signifi- 
cance involves  a  description  of  the  elements  entering  into 
the  complex.  The  only  question  is  —  are  the  elements 
there,  and  do  they  exist  in  the  way  they  are  said  to  exist  ? 
The  latter  question  settled,  settles  also  the  question  as  to 
what  shall  be  done  about  the  elements.^ 

1  The  truth  of  the  matter  is,  of  course,  that  both  points  of  view  are  re- 
quired ;  and  it  is  also  true  that  the  view-point  maintained  by  King  in 


INTRODUCTION  13 

The  attempt  to  classify  infant  activities  is  beset  with 
many  difficulties.  The  usual  method  has  been  to  class 
them  according  to  some  one  phase  or  aspect  which  hap- 
pened to  strike  the  observer's  eye.  Very  often  the  least 
significant  feature  of  the  activity  has  determined  the 
classification.  In  any  event,  the  grouping  under  selected 
captions  is  arbitrary.  Almost  any  piece  of  conduct  of  a 
child  one  year  old  might,  with  good  reason,  be  classed 
under  any  one  of  a  half  dozen  headings.  To  illustrate : 
in  order  to  entertain  the  child  one  hands  him  his  box  of 
cubes.  He  at  once  begins  to  play  with  them,  throws 
them,  "  feels  "  them,  turns  them  over  in  his  hands,  looks 
at  them,  piles  them  on  top  of  one  another.  How  shall 
we  class  the  activity?  As  memory,  recognition,  will, 
play,  hand-movement,  imitation,  constructive  impulse, 
suggestion,  joy  ?  Each  of  them  is  present  at  some  stage 
of  the  play  with  the  blocks.  Or,  when  older,  the  child 
sees  on  a  shelf  a  bright  toy  which  he  recognizes  and 
wants,  and  proceeds  to  pile  one  box  on  top  of  another 
in  order  to  climb  up  and  get  the  toy.  At  first,  one 
would  say,  "an  act  of  will,"  a  purposive  action.  But 
analysis  brings  to  light  memory,  imagination,  feeling 
aspects,  ideo-motor  action  —  what  not.  Of  course,  objec- 
tion to  this  method  is  lessened  when  the  total  situation 
is  represented  in  the  account.     When  one  makes  sure 

particular  has  been  practically  overlooked,  and  his  service  in  giving  it 
strong  emphasis  must  be  gratefully  acknowledged. 


14  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

that  the  class  name  does  not  obscure  other  essential  features 
of  an  action,  when  enough  is  stated  to  give  a  complete 
picture  of  the  action,  the  objection  to  this  or  that  label 
is  lessened.  For  it  really  matters  little  whether  an  action, 
a  piece  of  conduct  is  called  a,  b,  c,  x  or  y.  The  more  im- 
portant concern  is  that  if  x  and  y  are  present  that  they 
shall  not  be  blurred  over  by  calling  the  expression  a  or  b 
or  c. 

Again,  one  is  continually  brought  to  a  standstill  by  the 
inadequacy  of  the  terminology  of  the  adult,  functional 
psychology  —  which  is  largely  an  inheritance  from  the 
"faculty"  psychology  —  as  an  instrument  of  description  in 
dealing  with  primitive  mental  processes.  And  the  unfit- 
ness of  the  rubrics  of  the  faculty  psychology  is  realized 
whether  one  is  concerned  with  the  data  of  child  psychol- 
ogy from  the  genetic  view-point,  or  merely  in  an  endeavor 
to  describe  primitive  mental  phenomena.  In  the  first 
instance,  as  Dewey  shows,  because  the  genetic  method 
"  fixes  its  attention  on  growth,  on  continuity  of  function  ; 
it  substitutes  the  idea  of  gradual  differentiation  for  the 
notion  of  separate  mental  faculties,  it  must  end  by  sub- 
stituting the  conception  of  organic  interdependence  and 
of  cooperation  for  the  notion  [maintained  by  faculty  psy- 
.  chology]  of  mechanical  juxtaposition  and  external  asso- 
ciation.^ "     The  difficulty  from  the  latter  standpoint — that 

>  Dewey,  Transactions  of  the  Illinois  Soc.  for  Child-Study ^  Vol.  IV, 
p.  65f. 


INTRODUCTION  1 5 

of  mere  description  —  being  that  the  terminology  of  the 
adult  psychology  was  devised  for  use  in  describing  de- 
veloped an4  not  for  describing  undeveloped,  just-appear- 
ing, undifferentiated  processes.  Such  words  as  "  idea," 
"  memory,"  "  volition  "  obviously  relate  to  processes  of 
the  developed,  not  the  undeveloped  mind.  A  given 
process  may  be  the  forerunner,  the  promise  of,  may  be 
the  rudimentary  form  of  an  idea,  a  memory,  a  volition, 
but  it  is  clearly  misleading  to  describe  such  rudimentary 
affairs  as  ideas,  volitions  and  so  on  —  as  it  would  be  to  call 
a  tadpole  a  little  frog,  or  a  boy  a  little  man.  The  situa- 
tion is  very  like  that  in  which  the  entomologist  would 
find  himself  if  he  should  suddenly  lose  the  convenient 
words  "  pupa  "  and  "  larva,"  and  should  find  himself  re- 
duced to  the  necessity  of  referring  to  his  embryo  speci- 
mens as  "  primitive  forms  of  the  butterfly,"  as  "  rudi- 
mentary beetles  "  and  the  like.  Infant  psychology,  even 
of  the  functional  type,  is  in  great  need  of  a  vocabulary 
especially  adapted  to  its  needs  just  as  the  embryologist 
has  a  set  of  terms  especially  designed  for  his  use. 


CHAPTER  II 

DEVELOPMENT   OF   HAND   AND   ARM    MOVEMENTS 

Many  writers,  ancient  and  modern,  have  attributed 
man's  dominion  in  the  earth  to  his  possession  of  the 
admirable  mechanism  of  the  human  hand.  Sir  Charles 
Bell  wrote  "  A  Treatise,  The  Hand,  its  Mechanism " 
illustrating  the  thesis,  "  that  although  the  superiority  of 
man  is  in  his  mind  .  .  .  the  Hand  suppHes  all  in- 
struments, and  by  its  correspondence  with  the  intellect 
gives  him  universal  dominion."  ^  And  Darwin  expressed 
the  opinion  that, "  Man  could  not  have  attained  his  pres- 
ent dominant  position  in  the  world  without  the  use  of  his 
hands,  which  are  so  admirably  adapted  to  act  in  obedience 
to  his  will."  *  One  remembers  also  Fiske's  generaliza- 
tion, "  that  all  human  art  is  the  increment  of  the  power 
of  the  hand."  The  same  thought  is  expressed  more 
specifically  by  Burk,  as  follows  :  — 

"  Trace  the  evolution  of  the  higher  human  intelligence  as  we 
will, — from  tool-making  and  tool-using  to  modern  invention, 
from  manual  sign-making  to  speech,  from  hut  building  to 
architecture,  from   picture  writing  to  painting,  from  bizarre 

»  Bell,  The  Hand,  Us  Mechanism,  etc.,  pp.  40,  157,  Revised  Edition, 
s  Darwin,  The  Descent  of  Man,  Vol.  I,  p.  135,  Appleton  Edition,  187 1. 

16 


3  4  5 

Plate  I.— Five  Steps  in  Leabnino  to  Catch  a  Ball. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS    1 7 

fashioning  of  fetiches  to  sculpture,  from  rude  drumming  to 
higher  instrumental  music  —  the  development  of  the  hand  and 
mentality  have  ever  been  in  the  closest  intimacy  of  associa- 
tion."^ 

A  part  of  the  interest  which  attaches  to  a  study  of  the  de- 
velopment of  hand-  and  arm-movements  in  an  individual 
child  arises  out  of  the  consideration  just  mentioned ;  namely, 
that  in  the  history  of  the  race  the  development  of  human  in- 
telligence and  manual  skill  have  run  parallel,  and  have  been 
intimately  related.  But  even  entirely  apart  from  this  considera- 
tion, the  development  of  a  child's  ability  to  use  the  hands  is 
an  attractive  subject  for  study.  So  we  have  Preyer,  Sully, 
Miss  Shinn,  Mrs.  Moore,  and  Mrs.  Hall  each  giving  large  space 
to  the  description  of  the  development  of  hand-  and  arm- 
movements  in  individual  children.  The  record  which  follows 
is  offered  with  the  thought  of  corroborating  some  of  the  ob- 
servations of  others;  and,  perhaps,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
chapter  of  directing  attention  to  some  of  the  earlier  forms  of 
ideational  movement  which,  so  far  as  the  writer  knows,  have 
not  been  the  subject  of  careful  study. 


CLASSIFICATION   OF    HAND   AND  ARM    MOVEMENTS. 

The  fourfold  classification  which  is  usually  made  of 
bodily  movements  in  general  will  be  adopted  as  a  con- 
venient method  of  grouping  hand-  and  arm-movements : 
namely,  spontaneous  or  automatic,  reflex,  instinctive,  and  r^ 
voluntary  or  ideational.  Each  of  these  four  classes  of 
hand-  and  arm-movements  will  be  described  and  illus- 
trated in  turn. 

*  Burk,  Pedagogical  Seminary^  Vol.  VI,  p.  30. 


/ 


l8  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

SPONTANEOUS    OR    AUTOMATIC    HAND-MOVEMENTS 

These  movements,  as  the  name  indicates,  are  sup- 
posed to  arise  independently  of  any  perceptible  external 
stimulus.  The  exciting  cause  of  the  movement  is  within 
the  organism,  and  originates  '•  exclusively  in  the  nutritive 
and  other  organic  processes  that  go  on  in  the  motor 
centers  of  the  lowest  rank."  ^  To  illustrate,  Preyer  found 
in  his  observations  of  the  developing  chick  in  the  egg 
that  from  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  day, 

*'  the  creature  moves  of  itself.  Here  occur  first  only  move- 
ments of  the  trunk,  then  also  of  the  extremities  and  head  .  .  . 
without  the  least  change  in  the  surroundings  and  long  before 
the  reflex  excitability  is  present  at  all."  ^  Continuing  Preyer 
writes,  *'  There  is  nothing  left  but  to  assume  a  cause  of  the  im- 
pulsive (automatic)  movements  that  is  internal,  given  in  the 
organic  constitution  of  the  motor  ganglionic  cells  of  the  spinal 
marrow,  and  connected,  in  the  early  embryonic  stages,  with  the 
differentiation  and  the  growth  of  those  structures  and  of  the 
muscular  system.  .  With  the  formation  of  the  motor  ganglionic 
cell  in  the  spinal  marrow  and  cervical  marrow  a  certain  quan- 
tity of  potential  energy  must  accumulate,  which,  by  means  of 
the  flow  of  the  blood  or  of  lymph,  or  possibly  through  the  rapid 
formation  of  tissue,  is,  with  remarkable  ease,  transformed  into 
kinetic  energy."'    This  potential  energy  which  has  been  ac- 

>  Preyer,  The  Mind  of  the  Child,  English  translation,  New  York,  1890 
Part  I.,  p.  196. 

'  Italics  mine. 

3  Preyer,  The  Mind  of  the  Child,  Part  I,  p.  203f.  Note,— Some 
authorities  doubt  the  existence  of  movements  originating  entirely  inde- 
pendent of  sensory   stimulus.     For  references,  see  Sully,    The  Human 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS   IQ 

cumulated  in  the  growth  process  when  transformed  into  ki- 
netic energy  results  in  the  so-called  impulsive  (Preyer)  or 
automatic  movements. 

The  auto-excited  or  spontaneous  movements  are  the 
predominant  pre-natal  movements  in  the  child,  and  are 
numerous  and  striking  enough  in  the  early  weeks  of  post- 
natal life  to  have  attracted  the  attention  of  many  ob- 
servers of  early  infancy.^  In  the  opinion  of  Preyer,  the 
slow  and  apparently  laborious  bending  and  stretching  of 
the  arms  which  accompany  the  first  crying  just  after  birth 
belong  to  this  class  of  movements.  Probably,  the  stiff 
and  convulsive  arm  movements  which  one  may  often 
notice  when  the  infant  is  nursing,  belong  to  the  class  of 
automatic  movements.  So  also  we  may  describe  as  auto- 
matic some  features  of  the  general  bodily  tension  which 
often  appears  in  connection  with  unsuccessful  efforts  to 
nurse ;  for  example,  the  curious  asymmetry  of  closing 
one  hand  tightly  while  the  fingers  of  the  other  hand  were 
spread  far  apart,  observed  on  R.'s  seventh  day.  Still 
another  illustration  of  automatic  movements  is  found  in 
the  quick  contractions  of  the  arm  muscles  —  drawing  the 
hands  toward   the  face  or  chest,  followed  by    slow  re- 

Mind,  Vol.  II,  p.  182,  footnote.  Cf.  King,  The  Psychology  of  Child  De- 
velopment, p.  23ff. 

'  For  these  early  spontaneous  movements,  Dr.  A.  A.  Mumford  in  Brain, 
1897,  suggests  the  term  "  Survival  Movements,"  and  urges  that  they  are 
vestiges  of  an  earlier  stage  of  existence.  Cf.  Robinson,  «  Darwinism  in 
the  Nursery,"  Nineteenth  Century  for  November,  1891;  also,  Buckman, 
"  Babies  and  Monkeys,"  Nineteenth  Century ^  November,  1894. 


/ 


20  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

laxing,  then  another  contraction  followed  by  slow  relaxa- 
tion and  so  on  —  observed  in  J.'s  first  week  when  the  child 
was  crying  in  hunger.  Random  movements  of  the  arms 
are  most  numerous,  however,  when  the  infant  is  lying 
comfortably  in  his  crib,  roUing  the  head  from  side  to  side, 
bending,  stretching,  and  waving  the  arms  without  any 
purpose  or  apparent  exciting  cause. 

The  physiologist,  as  we  have  seen,  relates  these  spon- 
taneous movements  to  the  lowest  nerve  centers  of  the 
spinal  cord,  medulla  and  pons,  which,  in  the  first  weeks  of 
life,  are  not  related  structurally  by  mature  fibres  to  the 
higher  centers  of  the  brain.  They  are,  in  Burk's  words, 
"  the  lowest  level  movements.  They  must  represent  the 
movements  which  are  racially  the  oldest  .  .  .  they 
are  movements  without  higher  inhibition,  movements  as 
yet  without  halter  or  rein,  and  they  tend  to  disappear 
just  in  proportion  as  the  child's  capability  of  executing 
voluntary  movements  develops."  Yet  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  these  movements,  "  the  flotsam  and  jetsam 
of  spinal  activity  "  are  the  ultimate  units,  and  constitute, 
according  to  the  theory  adopted  here,  an  essential  prelimi- 
nary to  voluntary  movements.  They  furnish  practice  in 
muscle  movement,  and  also  a  stock  of  sensations  the 
memory  of  which  serves  as  a  guide  when  ideational  move- 
ments arise.  ^ 

1  For  a  discussion  of  the  genetic  significance  of  spontaneous  movements, 
see  Burk,  Op.  cit.y  p.  43fr. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS   21 
REFLEX    HAND-MOVEMENTS 

Reflex  movements  may  be  defined  as  those  move--/'''^^ 
ments  in  which  the  excitation  of  an  end  organ  is  trans- 
mitted to  a  nerve  center,  and  there  directly  and  without 
conscious  antecedents  sets  free  an  impulse  which,  through 
an  outgoing  nerve  fibre,  arouses  activity  in  a  muscle  or 
other  organ.  Reflex  movements  are  distinguished  from 
spontaneous  movements  by  the  fact  that  they  presuppose 
the  existence  of  an  external  stimulus  ;  and  they  are  dis- 
tinguished from  instinctive  movements  by  their  greater 
simplicity  —  only  a  small  number  of  muscles  or  other 
organs  being  involved  in  their  production  —  and  by  the 
immediacy  of  the  end  they  serve ;  and  also  by  the 
absence  of  consciousness  —  particularly  of  characteristic 
moods  or  feeling-tones  which  arise  in  connection  with 
instinctive  actions. 

The  first  note  relating  to  reflex  hand-movements  which  my 
record  contains  is  with  reference  to  clasping  with  the  fingers. 
When  J.  was  four  hours  old  he  firmly  clasped  a  finger  which 
was  placed  in  the  palm  of  his  hand.^  On  R.'s  second  day, 
when  his  cheek  was  lightly  touched,  his  right  hand  made  a  quick 
and  strong  movement  toward  the  face  as  if  to  remove  the  dis- 
turbance. A  light  touch  of  J.'s  forehead  while  the  child  was 
asleep  caused,  on  the  second  day,  the  arms  to  fly  up  convul- 

^  In  this  first  clasping,  the  thumb  did  not  play  a  part,  merely  resting 
lightly  against  the  second  joint  of  the  fore-finger.  Clasping  with  the 
thumb  contraposed,  in  the  case  of  J.,  was  established  by  the  middle  of  his 
fourth  month. 


V 


22  FIRST   STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

sively,  the  fingers  to  extend,  and  twitching  ofthe  facial  muscles. 
An  unsuccessful  effort  was  made  on  R.'s  second  day  to  get  the 
child  to  cling  to  a  pencil  or  finger  while  he  was  lifted  from  the 
bed.  On  his  third  day,  R.  clung  to  my  fingers  firmly  enough 
to  be  half  raised  from  the  bed,  and  it  seemed  clear  that  if  his 
clothing  had  been  removed  the  child  would  have  supported  his 
weight  with  ease.  But  the  child's  attendants  objected  strenu- 
ously to  such  heroic  performances,  so  there  my  experiments  on 
the  clinging  power  ended.'  On  the  fourth  day,  if  one  allowed 
R.  to  clasp  one's  finger  then  pulled  as  if  to  take  it  away,  the 
child  would  begin  to  fret  and  often  made  an  outcry.  It  was 
noticed  that  both  R.  and  J.  clasped  a  pencil  or  one's  finger 
more  firmly  when  nursing  than  on  other  occasions. 

INSTINCTIVE   HAND- MOVEMENTS 

,  l^  Reaching  and  grasping?  —  Preyer  truly  observes  that 
"  of  all  movements  of  the  infant  in  the  first  half  year,  no 
one  is  of  greater  significance  for  its  mental  development 
than  are  the  seizing  movements."  Preyer  had  in  mind 
the  significance  of  these  movements  in  contributing  to 
the  mental  development  of  the  child.  It  may  be  said 
also  that  they  are  of  great  significance  as  regards  the  in- 
sight vi^hich  they  afford  as  to  the  nature  and  order  of  that 

» See  Sully's  Studies  of  Childhood,  New  York,  1896,  p.  17,  for  a 
humorous,  yet  substantially  true,  statement  of  the  difficulties  encountered 
in  studying  early  forms  of  infant  activity. 

2  Whether  the  first  reaching  and  grasping  shall  be  classed  as  reflexive 
or  instinctive  is  more  or  less  an  arbitrary  matter.  The  fact  seems  to  be 
that  they  originate  in  spontaneous  movements,  i.  e.,  consist  of  factors  made 
spontaneously,  then  pass  through  reflex  and  instinctive  stages,  and  later 
pass  into  truly  volitional  actions. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS   23 

development.  On  this  account,  and  also  because  of  their 
relative  simplicity  and  isolation,  and  comparative  ease  of 
observation,  reaching  and  grasping  have  been  favorite 
subjects  among  the  observers  of  children's  ways. 

It  is  in  order,  first  of  all,  to  observe  that  when  one 
speaks  of  the  appearance  of  the  reaching  instinct  that 
one  does  not  mean  that  the  impulse  to  reach  bursts  forth 
suddenly  like  the  sprout  from  an  acorn,  or  like  a  chick 
from  its  shell.  We  are  not  to  suppose  that  on  a  given 
day,  or  possibly  at  a  given  moment,  one  sees  the  hand 
of  the  baby  shoot  forth  toward  an  attractive  object  in  a 
manner  wholly  unlike  any  previous  movements.  Reach-  ^ 
ing  and  grasping  do  not  come  forth  full-fledged.  They 
afford  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  slow  development 
and  perfection  of  an  instinctive  tendency,  and  perhaps  no 
class  of  movements  illustrates  more  clearly  and  strikingly 
how  by  imperceptible  steps  one  kind  of  movement  passes 
into  another  of  a  higher  rank. 

R.'S  LEARNING  TO  REACH  AND  GRASP 

Beginning  with  R.'s  tenth  week  observations  were  made  of 
his  impulse  to  reach  and  grasp  a  colored  tassel  which  was  fre- 
quently suspended  within  reaching  distance  of  the  child  as  he 
lay  in  his  crib.  From  the  first,  the  sight  of  the  object  pleased 
him,  calling  forth  arm-flourishing.  In  some  of  these  arm- 
flourishes,  the  hand  came  in  contact  with  the  tassel,  and  on 
two  different  days  during  the  tenth  week  it  seemed  that  the 
child  tried  to  grasp  the  object ;  but  he  did  not  know  how  to 


24  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

get  his  fingers  around  the  toy — usually  merely  punching  it  with 
the  thumb  and  forefinger. 

In  the  twelfth  week,  the  child  was  greatly  pleased  when  one 
dangled  over  him  brightly  colored  objects  as  a  watch  or  yarn 
tassels.  There  was,  also,  apparently  an  attempt  to  seize  the 
objects  so  held.  But  one  could  not  be  sure  that  the  child 
really  tried  to  get  the  articles  in  his  hand.  What  he  did  was 
to  strike  the  tassel  or  watch  with  his  fingers  or  thumb.  The 
question  was,  did  the  child  try  to  get  in  his  hands  the  article 
suspended  in  front  of  him  ?  or  was  the  flourishing  merely  an  ex- 
pression of  his  pleasure  at  the  sight,  and  resulting  in  an  occa- 
sional contact  with  the  tassel  or  watch  ?  One  was  inclined  to 
the  first  view  when  it  was  observed  that  the  child  looked  at 
and  *'felt"  his  own  hands  by  the  half-hour.  His  hand,  on 
account  of  its  numerous  appendages,  was  more  easily  grasped, 
and  so,  for  a  time,  was  a  favorite  plaything.  If  his  own  hand 
called  forth  the  impulse  to  examine  and  "feel,"  why  not  a 
foreign  object  like  a  yarn  tassel  or  a  watch  ?  provided  the  for- 
eign object  was  in  motion. 

The  notes  for  the  thirteenth  week,  relative  to  reaching  and 
grasping,  are  to  the  efl'ect  that  the  child  did  not  make  any 
attempt  to  reach  or  grasp  objects  held  in  front  of  him,  no  mat- 
ter how  greatly  pleased  he  was  by  the  sight  of  them,  unless 
they  touched  his  hands.  When  they  did  touch  his  hands  the 
desire  to  get  hold  of  them  seemed  to  arise  at  once.  But  he 
rarely  succeeded  —  merely  fumbling,  scratching,  striking  at  the 
ball,  watch  or  other  object.  On  a  certain  day,  a  watch  was 
held  about  seven  inches  from  his  chest  and  about  eight  inches 
from  his  eyes.  At  first,  he  lay  very  still,  not  a  muscle  stirring, 
gazing.  Then  he  began  to  kick  rapidly,  and  one  arm  flew  up 
and  chanced  to  strike  the  watch  which  he  fumbled  as  if  to  "  feel  " 
it  or  to  get  it  in  his  hands.  It  seemed  as  if  the  sight  of  the 
bright  object  set  the  kicking  and  arm-throwing  muscles  in  motion. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS   25 

The  notes  made  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  weeks  on  reach- 
ing and  grasping  are  substantially  the  same  as  for  the  thirteenth 
week.  Pleasing  objects  held  before  the  child  called  forth  only- 
expressions  of  pleasure — kicking  and  arm-throwing  in  a  lively 
manner.  When  either  of  his  hands  came  m  contact  with  the 
objects  he  at  once  began  to  scratch  at,  strike,  and  catch  at 
them  as  if  to  seize  them. 

Sixteenth  week  (first  day).  —  When  toys  were  held  in  front 
of  the  child  he  threw  his  arms  about,  striking  the  hands  to- 
gether ;  and  if,  in  so  doing,  he  chanced  to  grasp  the  object,  it 
was  held.  But  this  was  not  yet  deliberate,  directed  motion  of 
the  hands  toward  an  object,  a  movement  which  appeared 
definitely  and  unmistakably  on  the  fifth  day  of  the  sixteenth 
week.  On  the  last  named  day,  a  careful  test  was  made  of  the 
child's  inclination  to  reach  for  things  held  over  him  as  he  lay 
in  his  crib,  and  as  a  result  of  the  experiment  one  could  not 
doubt  that  the  child  tried  to  get  his  hands  on  the  objects  which 
were  held  over  him.  To  be  sure,  many  of  his  hand-movements 
appeared  to  be  mere  punches  with  the  thumb  or  forefinger,  or 
striking  with  the  finger  tips.  But  when  the  object  —  whether 
it  was  a  finger,  a  tassel,  or  the  leg  of  a  doll  —  was  grasped,  he 
held  fast,  and  stopped  the  arm-flourishing  which  had  preceded 
the  successful  grasping.  A  note  made  at  a  later  hour  of  the 
same  day  reads,  "  Holding  attractive  objects  over  the  child 
seldom  fails  to  call  forth  arm -movements  which  cannot  be  mis- 
taken for  random  arm-flourishing.  Most  convincing  of  all  is 
the  fact  that  the  child  begins  to  fret  when  he  fails  to  get  his 
hands  on  the  object." 

On  the  last  day  of  the  sixteenth  week,  a  watch  was  twirled 
within  six  inches  of  the  child's  face  as  he  lay  on  his  back  in  his 
crib.  He  first  looked  steadily  at  the  watch  for  twenty  seconds, 
then  threw  his  right  arm  toward  it,  touching  it  and  fumbling 
pyer  it  with  his  fingers  for  a  few  seconds.     His  arms  then  took 


26  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

their  former  position  at  the  side  of  his  head ;  then  he  began  to 
writhe  and  struggle  and  his  mouth  filled  with  saliva ;  ^  then  he 
threw  his  right  arm  toward  the  watch  as  if  to  take  hold  of  it, 
and  finally  he  did  get  it  between  his  first  and  second  fingers. 
Here  was  an  unmistakable  effort  to  get  his  hand  on  the  watch. 
By  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  week,  reaching  and  grasping 
were  well  established,  needing  only  practice  to  render  them 
sure  and  ready.  By  the  end  of  the  twentieth  week,  the  child 
*^  reached  for  everything,  with  one  exception,  which  was  held 
toward  him.  The  one  exception,  curiously,  was  his  nursing- 
bottle.  And  his  unwillingness  to  reach  for  the  bottle  (which 
was  a  cylindrical  eight-ounce  flask)  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  he  would  reach  for  practically  everything  else  {e.  g.y  balls, 
rattles,  dolls,  toy  animals)  which  was  held  out  to  him,  is  an 
excellent  illustration  of  a  habit  inhibiting  an  impulse.  That  is, 
the  habitual  thing  in  his  experience  with  the  bottle  was  for 
some  one  to  hold  it  for  him,  leaving  his  arms  free  to  do  what 
they  would.  He  had  not  been  trained,  as  one  would  say,  to 
reach  for  the  bottle,  or  to  hold  it  while  nursing.  So  when  the 
bottle  was  held  before  him  he  made  no  effort  to  grasp  it,  but 
threw  back  his  hands  and  arms  and  cried.  And  it  was  not 
until  the  forty-third  week  that  the  child  would  take  the 
bottle  when  it  was  held  toward  him;  and  even  then  the 
reaching  and  grasping  were  feeble  and  unwilling.     Even  as 

1  The  flow  of  saliva  which  accompanied  the  struggling  and  reaching  on 
this  date  was  observed  on  several  later  dates.  What  did  it  mean? 
Whether  the  child  was  hungry  and  the  sight  of  the  watch  set  in  motion 
the  salivary  glands;  or  whether  it  was  a  sign  of  a  desire  to  mouth  things, 
or  what  its  real  meaning  was,  I  do  not  venture  to  say.  It  was  noted  fre- 
quently during  the  next  two  months  that  the  mouth  played  a  sympathetic 
part  with  the  reaching,  grasping,  and  pulling  at  things  which  were  held 
toward  him.  For  example,  the  pulling  motion  was  accompanied  fre- 
quently by  opening  the  mouth,  as  if  the  pull  at  a  resisting  object  —  as 
one's  hand  —  at  the  same  time  opened  the  mouth. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS   2^ 

late  as  the  fiftieth  week  the  note  reads:  " the  child  will  not 
take  the  bottle  at  once  when  offered  to  him  ;  takes  it  rather 
reluctantly,  but  handles  it  skilfully  when  it  is  once  in  his  hands. 
Bottle  is  reversed  at  once  if  the  nipple  end  is  farthest  from 
him,  and  if  one  purposely  fixes  the  bottle  in  the  child's  hands 
in  an  impossible  position  for  nursing,  he  speedily  sets  it 
right."  (See  Figs.  6  and  7,  Plate  II,  showing  the  position  of 
the  hand  for  two  periods  [tenth  and  twenty-ninth  months] 
when  reaching  for  objects.) 

IDEATIONAL   HAND  MOVEMENTS 

.  /  Learning  to  Use  the  Hands    -' 

We  often  wonder  at  the  number  of  ideas  the  child 
acquires  during  his  first  three  years;  at  his  marvelous 
progress  in  learning  to  use  his  native  tongue;  at  the 
wealth  of  his  imagery ;  and  at  his  intellectual  resource- 
fulness in  interpreting  the  world  in  which  he  finds  him- 
self. Hardly  less  marvelous  is  his  progress  in  mastering 
the  use  of  his  hands,  in  learning  to  do  things  with  them, 
a  progress  which  ordinarily  is  not  remarked.  To  be 
sure,  we  think  of  the  child's  struggles  with  the  pencil 
when  he  begins  to  write  or  draw,  of  his  first  crude  at- 
tempts to  use  the  simpler  carpenter's  tools  as  the  knife, 
saw,  and  hammer.  But  long  before  he  reaches  this  rela- 
tively high  stage  in  his  development  on  the  manual  side, 
he  must  have  learned  a  large  number  of  hand-movements 
more  difificult  and  often  more  complex  than  the  child  is 
called  upon  to  perform  in  the  kindergarten  or  primary- 
school  years. 


28  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

It  will  be  the  purpose  of  the  paragraphs  which  follow 
to  enumerate,  and  to  outUne  the  development  of  some  of 
these  infantile  hand-movements,  the  learning  of  which 
the  environment  imposes  upon  the  child  with  the  same 
rigor  that  it  requires  the  acquisition  of  certain  kinds  of 
knowledge  as  a  condition  of  being  at  home  in  the  world, 
lln  fact,  learning  to  use  the  hands  and  storing  the  mind 
with  ideas  about  the  physical  world  are  so  intimately  re- 
lated, particularly  in  the  early  years,  as  we  have  seen 
already,  that  they  must  be  regarded  as  two  phases  of  the 
general  developmental  process. 

Before  proceeding  with  this  outline,  it  will  be  in  order 
to  make  two  observations  which  apply  to  all  acquired 
hand-movements.  In  the  first  place,  they  are  all,  on  the 
physical  side,  repetitions  or  combinations  and  modifica- 
tions of  earlier  movements  performed  many  times  at 
random,  reflexly  or  instinctively.  They  are  modifica- 
tions of  the  earlier  reaching,  grasping,  holding,  pulling, 
pushing,  shaking,  threshing,  throwing,  turning,  extend- 
ing, patting,  twisting,  striking,  rubbing,  tossing,  lifting  — 
all  of  which  had  been  performed  countless  times  involun- 
tarily before  they  were  performed  purposely,  or  became 
factors  of  purposive  movements.  These  random,  reflex, 
instinctive  movements  furnish  the  raw  material  out  of 
which  more  complex  hand-movements  are  built  up. 
They  stand  in  somewhat  the  same  relation  to  ideational 
or  purposive  movements  that  the  prelinguistic  babbling, 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS  29 

instinctive  and  emotional  vocal  expression  of  the  infant 
stand  to  articulate  speech. 

It  is  often  said,  and  truly,  very  probably,  that  an  adult's  speech 
does  not  contain  a  single  sound  which  was  not  uttered  many 
times  in  infancy.  It  may  be  said  with  equal  certainty  that  the 
elements  of  all  adult  hand -movements  are  to  be  found  in 
infantile  hand-movements  of  the  first  year.  So  when  one 
undertakes  to  trace  to  its  beginnings  a  movement  like  throwing 
a  ball,  turning  a  door-knob,  or  scribbling  with  a  pencil  one 
gets  lost  in  a  tangle  of  random,  reflexive  and  instinctive  hand- 
movements. 

In  the  second  place,  all  of  the  acquired  movements 
enumerated  below,  with  possibly  two  exceptions,  origi- 
nate in  imitative  behavior,  and  are  mastered  by  the 
method  of  trial  and  success.  For  example,  the  child  sees 
an  older  person  grasp  the  door- knob  and  open  the  door, 
and  begins  imitatively  to  work  at  the  knob,  pulling, 
tugging,  twisting  and  turning  it  as  well  as  he  can. 
Sometimes  the  tugging  at  the  knob  is  in  order  to  open 
the  door  to  get  out  of  the  room  ;  sometimes  without  'any 
other  purpose  than  to  do  in  a  general  way  what  the  child 
sees  another  person  doing.  If,  in  either  case,  the  door  is 
unlatched,  the  success,  designed  or  accidental,  becomes  a 
new  stimulus  to  pulling,  tugging,  twisting,  fumbling  at 
the  knob.  No  doubt  imitation  often  enters  as  a  factor  /  ^ 
in  guiding  the  learning  process,  but  its  most  important 
function,  at  the  outset,  is  to  set  the  motion  going. 

The  list  of  hand-movements  which  follows   includes 


30  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

only  those  which  had  to  be  learned,  and  which  required, 
in  most  cases,  a  period  of  practice.  Some  of  them,  it 
will  be  seen,  were  for  play,  for  the  child's  delight,  while 
others  had  definite  utilitarian  values ;  the  child  needed 
them  to  help  him  get  along  in  the  world.^ 

Learning  to  use  a  spoon  and  fork  to  carry  food  to  the  mouth} 
— The  baby's  first  attempts  to  feed  himself  with  a  spoon  or 
fork,  from  the  artistic  view-point,  end  in  flat  failure.  The  per- 
formance usually  yields  results  which  are  far  from  satisfying  to 
the  aesthetic  sense  ;  in  fact,  the  baby  makes  a  mess  of  it.  But 
the  baby's  sense  of  the  beautiful  is  not  easily  offended  and  he 
enters  into  the  learning  with  eagerness. 

My  notes  do  not  contain  an  answer  to  the  question,  When 
will  a  child,  unaided,  begin  to  feed  himself  with  spoon  or  fork  ? 
for  the  reason  that  neither  of  the  two  children  whom  I  ob- 
served, as  they  learned  to  feed  themselves,  had  an  opportunity 
to  make  a  beginning  of  his  own  motion.  It  was  found  that  as 
soon  as  the  child  held  a  spoon  or  fork  in  his  hands  and  poked 
around,  in  rough  imitation  of  his  attendants,  in  the  cups,  bowls 
or  saucers  which  contained  his  food,  he  was  ready  to  try  to 
feed  himself  if  given  a  little  help.  This  little  help  necessary  to 
set  in  motion  the  self-feeding  process  R.  received  in  the  fifteenth 
month  (446th  day).  The  child  was  rubbing  and  punching  with 
the  bowl  of  a  spoon  in  the  saucer  from  which  he  was  being  fed. 

^  The  particular  hand-movements  which  a  child  learns  will  depend 
somewhat  upon  the  conditions  surrounding  him,  the  kinds  of  things  he 
sees  others  doing,  the  nature  of  his  toys,  the  latitude  or  climatic  condi- 
tions, his  freedom,  whether  he  belongs  to  a  civilized  or  barbarous 
race,  etc. 

5  The  use  of  spoons  and  forks  to  carry  food  to  the  mouth  is  a  modi- 
fication of  the  carrying-to-the-mouth  motion  which  is  so  conspicuous  a 
feature  of  the  hand-movements  of  the  latter  part  of  the  first  year. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS  3 1 

The  child's  mother  took  hold  of  the  hand  which  held  the  spoon 
and  put  it  through  the  motion  of  dipping  food  and  carrying  it 
to  the  mouth.  The  child  grasped  the  essential  features  of  the 
movement  at  once,  and  without  guidance  began  to  rub  the  bowl 
of  the  spoon  in  the  saucer,  then  carried  the  spoon  to  his  mouth. 
At  first  the  movement  was  very  awkward  and  yielded  slight 
food  results.  But  when  the  child  rubbed  the  bowl  of  the  spoon 
across  and  around  his  mouth  he  got  a  taste  of  food,  enough, 
perhaps,  to  strengthen  the  desire  to  use  the  spoon  in  the  new 
way.  On  the  following  day,  he  picked  up  the  spoon  and  went 
through  the  same  motion  of  rubbing  the  bowl  of  the  spoon  in 
the  dish  containing  his  food,  then  carrying  the  spoon  to  his 
mouth.  Three  days  later  it  was  noted  that  he  was  eager  to 
feed  himself,  and  refused  to  eat  from  a  spoon  held  by  another 
person,  kicking,  throwing  his  arms,  turning  his  head,  and  cry- 
ing in  protest,  all  this  notwithstanding  the  perfectly  evident  fact 
that  he  would  have  starved  on  the  small  quantity  of  food  he 
was  able  to  get  into  his  mouth  in  the  time  usually  set  apart  for 
eating.^  He  had,  however,  made  the  necessary  first  step,  and 
it  was  only  a  matter  of  practice  until  he  would  be  able  to  handle 
the  spoon  with  ease  in  feeding  himself. 

^  The  child  J.  also,  very  soon  after  his  first  lessons  with  the  spoon, 
developed  an  unwillingness  to  eat  from  a  spoon  held  by  another  person. 
Accidentally,  it  was  found  that  if  the  child  was  allowed  to  hold  a  spoon 
which  he  could  rub  in  an  empty  dish  while  he  was  being  fed  he  was  will- 
ing to  take  food  from  a  spoon  held  by  another  person.  So  during  a 
period  of  three  weeks  two  plates  or  saucers  were  required  in  feeding  the 
child :  an  empty  one  placed  so  he  could  punch  and  rub  in  it,  and  a  second 
containing  his  food  held  so  as  to  conceal  the  empty  one.  This  arrange- 
ment proved  satisfactory  to  all  concerned.  The  performance  reminded 
me  of  a  chance  observation  I  once  made  of  the  energetic,  but  wholly  use- 
less and  ludicrous,  scratching  the  bare  floor  by  an  old  hen  as  she  picked 
grains  of  corn  from  the  cob.  Scratching  had  become  a  fixed  part  of  the 
process  of  taking  a  meal.  In  the  case  of  the  child,  rubbing  a  spoon  in  a 
dish  became  in  a  few  days  an  integral  part  of  the  food  taking  process. 


32  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  relate,  or  describe,  minutely  the 
tedious  and  inartistic  details  of  the  period  of  practice  in  learn- 
ing to  use  the  spoon.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  refer  to  a  few  of 
the  adjustments  which  must  be  made  before  the  child  can  use 
the  spoon  skilfully.  How  delicate  these  adjustments  and 
muscular  coordinations  must  be  can  be  made  clear  by  refer- 
ence to  two  defects  of  the  beginner's  struggles.  In  the  first 
place,  the  handle  of  the  spoon  is  grasped  awkwardly.  Palm 
down  the  hand  seizes  the  spoon- handle  as  if  it  were  a  cheese 
knife,  or  a  meat  ax,  a  good  position  for  striking  or  jabbing  but 
not  for  dipping.  (See  Fig.  5,  Plate  III.)  In  the  second  place, 
the  handle  of  the  spoon  is  not  raised  high  enough  and  the  bowl 
of  the  spoon  strikes  the  mouth  in  an  almost  vertical  plane,  pre- 
venting the  spoon's  entrance  to  the  mouth  and  allowing  the 
food  to  fall  out.  These  two  obvious  defects  of  the  child's  first 
ventures  with  the  spoon  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  nature  of 
some  of  the  defects  which  must  be  overcome  in  practice,  by  a 
process  of  trial  and  success.  This  period  of  preliminary  prac- 
tice in  the  case  of  R.  extended  over  a  period  of  more  than  five 
months.  That  is,  it  was  not  until  his  twentieth  month  that  the 
child  had  acquired  sufficient  control  over  the  unruly  spoon  to 
get  a  fair  share  of  the  food  which  was  allotted  to  him  into  his 
mouth  and  not  on  his  bib,  chair,  and  the  surrounding  territory. 

In  the  meantime  the  child  had  acquired  good  control  of  the 
table-fork  as  an  instrument  for  carrying  food  to  the  mouth.  It 
is  clear  that  the  fork  can  be  used  much  earlier  than  the  spoon 
as  a  feeding  implement,  provided  the  food  is  in  particles  solid 
enough  to  hang  together  when  pierced  by  the  fork-tines.  For 
example,  R.  could  pick  up  strawberries  with  a  fork  three 
months  before  he  had  the  skill  to  pick  them  up  and  carry  them 
to  the  mouth  with  a  spoon. 

Learning  to  throw  a  ball.  —  Learning  to  throw  a  ball, 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS  33 

or  other  similar  article,  is  a  particularly  good  illustration 
of  the  adaptation  and  specialization  of  old  movements 
for  new  purposes.  The  throwing  motion  is  made  count- 
less times  before  the  child  throws  purposely,  and  it  is  not 
difficult  to  trace  throwing  to  a  number  of  earlier,  fairly 
distinct  hand-movements  like  shaking,  tossing,  threshing 
a  newspaper,  tossing  and  shaking  toys  —  which  one  may 
observe  as  early  as  the  eighth  month,  or  earlier  in  the 
case  of  some  children.  A  little  later,  the  child  begins  to 
carry  his  toys  to  the  edge  of  his  crib,  letting  them  drop 
as  if  to  get  rid  of  them,  or  possibly  to  hear  them  fall :  or, 
if  seated  in  a  high-chair,  the  child  will  pick  up  from  the 
table  and  drop  on  the  floor  spoons,  dolls,  rattles,  balls  — 
in  fact,  anything  he  can  reach.  Out  of  such  movements 
the  throwing  motion  is  differentiated  and  selected.  And 
if  there  is  a  ball  in  the  child's  collection  of  playthings, 
ball  throwing  in  particular  is  selected,  one  may  suppose, 
because  more  happens  when  a  ball  is  thrown  or  tossed 
than  when  another  article,  such  as  a  spoon  or  rattle,  is 
thrown.  The  ball  rolls  away  giving  the  child  the  delight 
which  accompanies  the  sight  of  all  moving  things.  So 
ball  throwing  soon  comes  to  be  a  favorite  form  of  play. 

My  observation  of  R.'s  learning  to  throw  a  ball  began 
in  the  first  week  of  his  second  year.  At  that  time,  be- 
fore the  child  had  learned  to  creep,  he  would  sit  on  the 
floor  and  throw  a  ball  as  long  as  any  one  was  willing  to 
get  it  and  return  it  to  him,  shouting  with  delight  at  every 


34  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

toss  or  throw  of  the  ball.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to 
creep,  he  spent  the  greater  part  of  his  play  hours  in  toss- 
ing, throwing,  rolling  the  ball  about  the  room  and  creep- 
ing after  it.  So  also  when  he  could  walk,  throwing  and 
running  after  the  ball  was  his  leading  occupation. 

The  manner  of  throwing  throughout  the  months  of  the 
second  year,  was  what  the  schoolboy  calls  "  overhand." 
The  hand  was  raised  above  the  head  and  the  ball  was 
thrown  by  a  forward  motion  of  the  hand.  (See  Fig.  i, 
Plate  IV.)  In  the  twenty-third  month  I  made  a  number 
of  measurements  of  the  distance  which  the  ball  was 
thrown,  the  average  being  eight  feet  and  a  small  fraction. 
(The  ball  was  a  hollow  rubber  one  two  and  one-half  inches 
in  diameter,  and  weighing  two  ounces.) 

The  first  attempt  to  bounce  the  ball  was  made  in  the 
twenty-seventh  month.  The  first  bounce,  as  one  would 
have  expected,  was  really  a  short  throw.  But  he  soon 
selected  the  correct  motion,  and  was  able  by  the  end  of 
the  twenty-eighth  month  to  bounce  a  ball,  similar  to  the 
one  described  above,  so  it  would  rise  three  feet  after  strik- 
ing the  floor.  -x-^,z 

It  was  said  above  that  the  first  throwing  was  ove^ 
hand.  This  manner  of  throwing  was  the  rule  until  the 
thirtieth  month  when,  for  some  reason,  I  know  not  what, 
he  fell  into  the  way  of  throwing  side-ways  or  underhand. 
(See  Fig.  I,  Plate  II.)  And  it  was  with  difficulty  that  one 
could  get  the  child  to  use  the  earlier  method  of  throwing 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS  35 

over-hand.  Throwing  with  a  side  swing  or  underhand 
toss  continued  throughout  the  remainder  of  the  third 
year  to  be  the  favorite  manner  of  throwing  balls,  stones 
and  other  similar  articles. 

Learning  to  catch  a  ball.  —  I  first  tried  to  teach  R.  to 
catch  a  ball  in  the  twenty-ninth  month,  but  with  little 
success.  He  adjusted  his  hands  with  care,  looking  at 
them  as  if  getting  ready  to  perform  a  very  difficult  feat, 
placing  the  little  fingers  in  contact,  but  held  the  palms 
of  his  hands  so  near  his  chest  or  face  that  he  was  unable 
to  catch  the  most  carefully  tossed  ball.  The  position  of 
the  hands  was  unfavorable  for  catching.  But  worse  than 
the  position  was  the  fact  that,  at  first,  he  made  no  effort 
to  close  his  hands  over  the  ball  when  it  did  strike  the 
palms  of  his  hands.  Nor  did  he  make  any  effort  to 
reach  out  toward  the  ball  and  seize  it  when  it  was  tossed 
to  him.  So  the  only  idea  or  factor  in  the  rather  complex 
adjustment  necessary  to  catch  a  ball  which  he  was  able 
to  get  was  the  idea  that  the  two  hands  should  be  held 
together  in  front  of  the  body.     I  tried  again  in  the  thirty- 

wOnd  month  to  teach  the  child  to  catch  a  ball,  but  with 
I'^tle  better  success.  The  only  difference  noticeable  in 
the  position  of  the  hands  was  that  he  adjusted  them  with 
more  care,  and  held  them  nearer  his  face  than  in  the 
earlier  months.  (Plate  I  illustrates  five  changes  in  the 
positions  of  the  hands  in  learning  to  catch  a  ball.) 

Learning   to   turn   a  door-knob   to  open  a  door.  —  It 


36  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

required  a  little  more  than  two  months  of  irregular  and 
occasional  practice  and  experimenting  for  R.  to  learn  to 
turn  a  door-knob  and  pull  a  door  open  so  he  could  get 
out  of  the  room.  I  first  tried  to  teach  him  to  turn  the 
knob  and  open  the  door  in  the  last  week  of  the  twenty- 
fifth  month  by  taking  hold  of  his  hand  and  putting  it 
through  the  motion  of  turning  the  knob  and  opening  the 
door.  But  the  child  could  not  get  the  idea,  he  didn't 
understand  what  was  to  be  done,  although  he  would  pull 
and  tug  at  the  knob  as,  indeed,  he  had  for  several  months 
before. 

A  few  notes  from  the  record  for  the  twenty-sixth  and 
twenty-seventh  months  will  be  transcribed  to  indicate 
the  general  order  of  progress  in  learning  to  open  a  door. 

Twenty-sixth  month  (last  week).  —  The  child  could  not 
turn  a  knob  either  to  open  or  shut  a  door ;  he  had  not 
associated  turning  the  knob  with  latching  or  unlatching 
the  door;  i.  e.y  he  did  not  understand  the  use  of  the 
knob. 

Twenty-seventh  month  (second  week).  —  The  child 
tugs  at  the  door-knob,  pulling,  turning,  twisting,  and 
succeeds  sometimes  in  getting  the  door  open.  He  un- 
derstands now  that  tugging  at  the  door-knob  is  followed 
by  the  door's  opening.  But  he  does  not  yet  make  the 
necessary  combination  of  movements  to  get  the  door 
open.  (Third  week)  The  child  is  able  to  close  a  door 
and    latch    it   after   considerable   tugging   and   turning. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS  37 

(Fourth  week)  When  trying  to  open  a  door,  the  child 
turns  the  knob  back  and  forth  rapidly,  but  does  not  un- 
derstand that  he  must  at  the  same  time  pull  in  order  to 
get  the  door  open.  He  gets  the  plunger  or  bolt  out  of 
the  catch,  but  does  not  at  the  same  time  pull  toward  him- 
self, and  so  fails  to  get  the  door  open. 

Twenty-eighth  month  (second  week).  —  The  child  seizes 
the  knob  of  a  door,  gives  it  a  turn  to  the  right  and  pulls 
the  door  open  almost  as  quickly  and  skilfully  as  an  adult 
would.  All  tugging,  twisting,  puUing,  pushing  have  dis- 
appeared, and  the  child  opens  a  door  almost  as  well  as  a 
grown  person,  not  quite  so  quickly  or  gracefully  perhaps 
—  but  practice  will  soon  give  speed,  and  will  wear  off  the 
rough  edges  of  the  performance. 

Learning  to  turn  leaves  in  books  and  magazines.  —  As 
early  as  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  month,  R.  was  in- 
terested in  opening  and  shutting  a  book.  On  a  certain 
day  in  the  third  week  of  this  month  the  child  opened 
and  shut  a  small  school-reader  twenty-nine  times.  The 
interest  at  that  time  was  in  the  motion,  in  what  he  could 
do  with  the  book.  The  movement  belonged  to  the  class 
of  "  persistent  "  imitation,  as  described  by  Baldwin,  and 
the  deHght  was  not  unlike  that  which  Baldwin's  child 
found  "  in  putting  the  rubber  on  a  pencil  and  off  again, 
each  act  being  a  new  stimulus  to  the  eye."  ^ 

Three  months  later,  probably  owing  to  his  having  been 

1  Mental  Development,  Vol.  I,  p.  132. 


38  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

entertained  by  being  shown  pictures  in  magazines,  R. 
began  to  turn  through  the  leaves  of  books  in  order  to 
see  what  was  in  them.  Sometimes  the  magazine  or  book 
was  so  held  as  to  allow  the  leaves  to  roll  off  the  thumb ; 
at  other  times,  he  held  the  book  in  his  right  hand, 
striking  the  leaves  with  the  tips  of  the  fingers  of  the  left 
hand. 

Twenty-eighth  month.  —  The  child  rested  a  book  or 
magazine  in  his  right  hand,  as  an  older  person  might, 
letting  the  leaves  fall  off  the  left  hand. 

Thirty-sixth  month.  —  Held  book  in  the  right  hand 
and  turned  the  leaves  by  placing  the  fingers  of  the  left 
hand  at  the  top  edge  of  the  page. 

Learning  to  use  a  pair  of  scissors.  —  In  the  last  week 
of  the  twenty-sixth  month  I  tried  to  teach  R.  to  use  a 
pair  of  scissors.  After  watching  me,  he  properly  placed 
the  thumb  and  forefinger  in  the  handles,  pulled  them 
apart  so  the  blades  were  open,  but  he  didn't  understand 
what  to  do  in  order  to  get  the  blades  to  close.  He  was 
in  a  predicament ;  he  had  the  scissors  open  and  did  not 
know  how  to  shut  them.  I  then  took  hold  of  his  hand, 
pressed  the  thumb  and  finger  together.  This  I  did  a 
few  times  and  he  caught  the  motion  and  proceeded  forth- 
with to  cut,  somewhat  clumsily,  the  edge  of  a  piece  of 
paper.  Improvement  in  the  use  of  the  scissors  was  rapid, 
so  far  as  cutting  merely  for  the  fun  of  it  was  concerned. 
I  tried  on  several  occasions,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  third 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS  39 

year,  to  get  the  child  to  cut  pictures  from  newspapers, 
but  without  success.  He  could  not  control  the  scissors 
and  the  paper  at  the  same  time. 

Learning  to  screw  the  top  on  a  paste- bottle.  —  The  child 
R.  learned,  from  watching  another,  to  turn  the  top  on  a 
small,  library  paste-bottle  (twenty-seventh  month).  It 
seemed  that  the  ability  to  make  the  necessary  left  to  right 
turning  motion  with  the  fingers  of  the  right  hand  was 
natural.  At  any  rate,  the  motion  required  no  practice  or 
teaching  beyond  seeing  another  person  make  it.  But 
the  child  could  not  make  the  right  to  left  motion  neces- 
sary to  unscrew  the  top,  and  I  could  not  teach  it  to  him 
even  by  putting  his  hand  through  the  motion.  The  ex- 
periment with  the  paste-bottle  was  repeated  in  the  thirty- 
first  month.  Then,  as  on  the  former  occasion,  the  child 
failed  to  grasp  the  method  of  unscrewing  the  top  unless 
the  bottle  was  held  in  the  right  hand  and  the  top  turned 
with  the  left.  He  succeeded  then  because  the  easy, 
natural  turning  motion  with  the  left  hand  unscrewed  the 
top.  The  experiment  was  made  again  in  the  thirty-sixth 
month.  I  took  off  the  cover  and  asked  the  child  to  put 
it  on.  He  first  set  the  cover  on  the  bottle  saying,  "  On 
now."  I  then  said,  <•  Turn  it  on,"  which  he  did  with  ease. 
Then  I  said,  "  Now  take  it  off,"  and  he  began  turning  the 
cap  in  the  same  direction  as  when  putting  it  on.  I  then 
said,  "  turn  the  other  way,"  and  he  immediately  reversed 
the  turning  motion  and  unscrewed  the  top  without  fur- 


40  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

ther  help  or  direction.  The  request  to  put  the  top  on 
was  repeated  a  number  of  times  and  was  carried  out 
promptly ;  also  the  request  to  take  it  off.  He  had  learned, 
at  some  time  or  other,  the  meaning  of  the  words  "  turn 
the  other  way."  That  is,  he  understood,  as  he  did  not 
at  the  earlier  dates,  the  direction  to  reverse  the  motion 
of  his  fingers.  When  or  how  he  learned  the  meaning  of 
"  turn  the  other  way,"  I  do  not  know. 

Learning  to  put  on  his  own  shoes.  —  For  the  mastery  of 
this  important,  practical  acconiplishment,  R.  required 
much  practice  extending  over  a  period  of  fifteen  months, 
beginning  with  the  fourteenth.  In  the  last  named  month, 
if  the  child  chanced  to  come  across  one  of  his  shoes  as 
he  moved  about  the  room,  or  if  a  shoe  was  tossed  to  him 
he  pressed  it  against  his  foot  showing  that  he  remembered, 
in  a  general  way,  the  customary  place  of  the  shoe.  Per- 
haps one  is  not  warranted  in  saying  that,  in  these  early 
efforts,  the  child  was  trying  to  put  the  shoe  on ;  it  was 
rather  an  imitative  movement  suggested  by  the  idea  of 
shoe-on-the-foot,  or  by  the  memory  of  seeing  other  per- 
sons put  on  his  shoes.  As  has  been  indicated  already, 
the  child  made  the  first  successful  effort  to  get  his  shoes 
on  in  the  twenty-ninth  month ;  that  is,  he  could  pull  the 
shoe  on,  sometimes  quickly,  sometimes  only  after  a  great 
deal  of  puUing  and  tugging,  depending  upon  the  loose- 
ness of  the  lacing  and  the  position  of  the  shoe  with  ref- 
erence to  the  foot.     After  the  child  had  learned  to  pull 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS  4! 

on  his  shoes  it  was  thought  that  it  might  be  possible  to 
teach  him  to  lace  them  too.  But  shoe  lacing  is  too 
intricate  and  involved  a  feat  for  the  three  year  old.  He 
grasps  the  idea  that  the  strings  go  in  the  holes,  but  the 
order  is  too  difficult  for  him ;  so  "  lacing  "  shoes  is  merely 
taking  a  string  and  putting  it  in  any  unoccupied  eyelet. 
Picking  up  and  manner  of  holding  cups,  glasses^ 
bowls,  saucers,  etc.  —  The  baby's  method  of  grasping  and 
picking  up  cups,  bowls  or  saucers,  affords  a  curious  and 
interesting  illustration  of  the  so-called  survival  move- 
ments from  a  pre-human  ancestry.  When  an  adult  or  a 
child,  well  past  the  years  of  infancy,  picks  up  with  one 
hand  a  jar,  crock,  or  bowl,  which  is  too  large  to  clasp 
around  the  outside  with  one  hand,  he  places  the  thumb 
inside  the  bowl  and  grasps  the  rim  of  the  vessel  with  the 
thumb  and  fingers.  But  the  baby  employs  the  so- 
called  simian  method  of  grasping  and  picking  up  cups, 
bowls,  and  saucers.  The  hand  is  extended,  palm  down- 
ward, toward  the  desired  object  —  dish,  cup  or  saucer  — 
the  fingers,  not  the  thumb,  are  placed  inside  the  vessel, 
and  the  rim  is  pressed  against  the  palm  of  the  hand  in 
order  to  pick  up  the  object  so  grasped.  The  first  note 
with  reference  to  R.'s  method  of  grasping  a  cup  in  order 
to  pick  it  up  was  made  in  the  early  part  of  the  thirteenth 
month.  At  that  time  the  child  used  the  simian  method, 
as  described  above,  and  that  method  of  seizing  cups  or 
bowls  was  employed  until  the  last  quarter  of  thQ  third 


42  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

year.  In  the  thirty-fifth  month  two  instances  of  grasping 
a  bowl  by  placing  the  thumb  inside  were  noted ;  in  the 
thirty-sixth,  one.  At  the  time  of  this  writing  (R.'s 
thirty-ninth  month)  bowls  and  similar  articles  are  almost 
always  grasped  by  placing  the  fingers  inside,  while  saucers 
and  plates  are,  so  far  as  I  have  observed,  picked  up  by 
placing  the  fingers  under  the  edge  of  the  saucer  or  plate 
after  the  manner  of  adults.  That  is,  the  simian  method 
of  grasping  plates  and  saucers  has  disappeared,  but  is  still 
the  favorite  method  of  picking  up  cups  and  bowls. 

Additional  hand-movements. —  The  general  nature  of 
the  process  of  learning  to  do  things  with  the  hands  is  per- 
haps indicated  at  sufficient  length  in  the  preceding  para- 
graphs.  This  section  will  conclude,  therefore,  with  the 
mere  naming  of  a  number  of  other  hand-movements 
which  the  child  learned,  or  tried  to  learn  before  the  close 
of  the  third  year.  Among  those  learned  were:  —  To 
open  a  pen-knife;  to  wind  a  small  clock;  to  open  a 
drawer ;  to  wash  his  own  hg^ds  ;  to  put  a  door-key  in  a 
key-hole  and  lock  and  unlock  a  door ;  to  push  the  button 
of  an  electric  door -bell.  The  following  is  a  partial  list  of 
hand-movements  which  we  tried  to  teach  him,  but  with- 
out success  :  —  To  lace  his  shoes  (mentioned  above)  ; 
to  button  and  unbutton  his  clothes  ;  to  put  on  his  coat ; 
to  tie  a  single  knot  in  a  string ;  to  swing  a  rope  for  the 
game  "jump  the  rope  " ;  to  tear  from  paper  forms  repre- 
senting his  favorite  toys  and  animals. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND<  ARM  MOVEMENTS  43 

Use  of  the  right  and  left  hands.  —  My  observations  of 
R.'s  use  of  the  right  and  left  Ijands  began  in  his  third 
month,  and  were  directed  to  answer  the  or»f- question, 
which  hand  does  the  child  use  more  ?  The  record  is  not 
as  full  of  definite,  detailed  statement  as  one  wishes,  the 
usual  form  of  the  note  being,  "  right  hand  preferred," 
"  use^  the  left  hand  more  at  this  time,"  "  holds  ball  in 
righ^  -^and,"  and  so  on.  I  do  not  mean,  however,  to 
cast  doubt  upon  the  accuracy  of  the  "  mere  impres- 
sions," as  one  may  call  them  which  the  notes  contain. 
They  were  based  always  upon  careful  observation  of  the 
child's  hand-movements  during  half-hour  or  longer 
periods ;  and  on  several  occasions  the  number  of  times 
each  hand  was  used  in  picking  up,  reaching,  feeling, 
pulling,  throwing  was  counted,  and  the  result  entered  in 
the  notes.  But  this  rnethod  was  not  followed  uniformly, 
hence  the  lack  of  full,  detailed  statement. 

Third  month,  —  No  preference  for  either  hand  was 
noticeable. 

Fourth  and  fifth  months.  —  In  these  months  the  right 
hand  was  used  more  frequently. 

Sixth  to  eleventh  months  inclusive.  —  No  noticeable 
preference  for  either  hand.       '^'"'^ 

Twelfth  to  the  close  of  the  thifty-sixth  month.  —  A 
slight  preference  for  the  left  hand  began  to  appear 
early  in  the  twelfth  month,  and  it  increased  so  rapidly 
that  by  the  time  the  child  rounded  out  his  first  year  he 


14  FIRST   STEPS   IN   MENTAL  ORG 

vas  clearly  what  one  would  call  left-handed.  1  :,  a  ere 
kicked  up  with  the  left  hand,  a  ball  was  throw*''  -.r  tossed 
vith  the  left  hand,  ihi  left  hand  was  used  more  in  reach- 
ing. Left  hand  movements  were  surer  and  more  grace- 
ul  as  well  as  more  numerous.  At  this  point,  we  began 
•ystematically  to  break  up  the  growing  preference  for 
the  left  hand,  and  to  encourage  the  child  to  use  the  right 
land  rather  than  the  left.  Articles  were  refused -hiiP 
yvhen  he  reached  with  the  left  hand  for  them,  and  care 
vas  taken  when  giving  the  child  toys  and  other  articles 
.0  place  them  in  his  right  hand.  Either  as  the  resu  t  of 
our  training  or  as  the  outcome  of  native  tendencies,  the 
ight  hand  began,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth 
"nonth,  to  return  to  its  former  place  of  ascendancy.  In 
he  last  week  of  the  fifteenth  month,  I  counted  forty-nine 
.nstances  of  reaching  for  toys.  Twenty-four  were  with 
he  right  hand,  twenty-one  with  the  left,  and  four  with 
)6th  hands.  The  preference  for  the  right  hand  indicated 
by  these  figures  is  not  great  enough  to  be  significant 
further  than  to  show  the  returning  prestige  of  the  right 
Jiand.  From  the  sixteenth  month  forward  the  right  hand 
:ame  gradually  to  be  used  more,  though  both  hands 
A^ere  used.  A  note  made  in  the  nineteenth  month,  for 
example,  reads,  "  Uses  both  hands  in  reaching,  picking 
jp,  and  throwing  things,  but  the  right  hand  is  used 
more."  Another  note  made  in  the  twentieth  month  re- 
ports, "  Ball  throwing  and  spoon  holding  are  decidedly 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  HAND  AND  ARM  MOVEMENTS  45 

right-handed."  So  well  fixed  by  this  time  was  the  habit 
of  throwing  with  the  right  hand  that  the  left  hand  was 
not  used  even  when  the  ball  was  picked  up  with  the  left 
hand,  the  ball  being  changed  to  the  right  hand  before  it 
was  thrown.  We  shall  not  follow  the  record  through 
month  by  month  for  it  only  repeats  and  illustrates  what 
has  been  stated  already.  By  the  end  of  the  second  year 
the  child  was  decidedly  right  handed,  and  has  been  so 
ever  since.^ 

>  As  one  watches  the  child  now  (forty-fourth  month),  so  strongly  right- 
handed,  one  often  wonders  what  would  have  resulted  if  he  had  been 
allowed  to  continue  without  interference  or  training  on  the  line  he  set  out 
in  the  twelfth  month.  Would  he  have  become  as  decidedly  left  handed 
as  he  is  now  right  ?  Other  questions  which  arise  in  this  connection  are 
whether  children  are  natively  either  right  or  left-handed  which  no  amount 
of  training  can  change ;  or  whether  it  is  a  matter  of  training ;  or  are  some 
or  all  children  naturally  ambidextrous,  but  will  develop  right  or  left- 
handedness  under  training?  .  .  .  The  whole  matter  of  right  and 
left-handedness  should  have  much  wider  study  than  it  has  so  far  received. 
See  Professor  Baldwin's  Mental  Development,  Vol.  I,  Chap.  IV  for  inter- 
esting data,  references  to  literature,  and  a  critical  discussion  of  the  theories 
relating  to  the  origin  of  right-handedness. 


CHAPTER   III 

DRAWING 

Inasmuch  as  the  principal  aim  of  this  chapter  will  be 
to  illustrate  the  early  stages  of  the  child's  penciling  and 
drawing,  the  figures  which  follow  will  form  the  chief 
point  of  whatever  interest  or  attention  the  chapter  may 
have.  The  figures  are  selected  from  a  large  number  of 
penciliiigs  and  drawings  which  R.  made  during  his  second 
and  third  years. 

STAGES   IN   R.'S   LEARNING   TO   DRAW 

First  stage,  —  crude  ^  imitative  hand-flourishes. — 
Among  civilized  peoples,  the  child's  early  penciling  and 
drawing  have  their  roots  in  the  imitative  impulse.  Pen- 
cil in  hand,  the  child  will  strike  or  punch  at  paper  laid 
before  him  in  rough  imitation  of  an  older  person  writing 
or  marking.  He  will  use  a  stick,  spoon,  or  other  similar 
article  in  the  same  way.  At  first,  the  child  does  not  see 
that  the  pencil  and  the  marks  are  in  any  way  related. 
Probably  at  first  he  does  not  see  the  marks.  At  any  rate, 
he  does  not  see  that  the  pencil  makes  the  marks. 

In  the  last  week  of  his  first  year,  we  for  the  first  let  R. 
have  a  lead-pencil  and  paper,  at  the  same  time  making 

47 


48  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

some  marks  on  the  paper  as  it  lay  before  him.^  He  at 
once  made  arm-movements  roughly  like  those  I  had 
made  in  making  the  marks.  But  the  writing  or  "  draw- 
ing "  was  only  a  striking  or  punching  at,  or  rubbing  the 
pencil  over  the  paper,  the  leaded  end  of  the  pencil  not 
touching  the  paper  at  every  stroke,  and  so  making  no 
marks  or  scratches.  It  was  essentially  an  imitation 
of  my  hand  movement.  (See  Fig.  i,  No.  i,  for  copy  of 
R.'s  first  penciling).  On  nine  different  days  in  the  course 
of  the  next  four  weeks,  the  child  was  given  pencil,  paper, 
and  a  copy  in  the  way  of  marks  or  hand-movements. 
The  only  change  or  advance  noted  in  this  period  was 
that  the  arm-movements  became  freer.  But  they  were 
still  crude,  imitative  flourishes  resulting  in  a  number  of 
disconnected,  purposeless  scratches.  (See  Fig.  I,  No.  2.) 
Second  stage.  —  Purposive  penciHng.  The  random 
striking  or  scratching  with  pencil,  and  the  resulting  dis- 
connected lines  of  the  first  stage  gradually  gave  way  to  a 

'  It  was  my  purpose  from  the  outset  to  keep  the  child's  early  penciling 
as  free  as  possible  from  outside  stimuli  and  guidance,  merely  supplying 
him  with  pencil  and  paper.  But  it  was  found  that  he  would  do  very  little 
penciling  spontaneously,  or  without  suggestion  from  some  source.  So  I  at 
first  made  heavily  shaded  circles  as  copies,  and  later  made  many  rough 
sketches  for  him,  sometimes  at  his  request,  sometimes  as  models  which  I 
wished  him  to  try  to  copy.  I  have  never  taken  hold  of  his  hand  and  tried 
to  teach  him  pencil  movements  in  that  way  —  an  effective  method  if  one  is 
especially  desirous  of  a  precocious  development  of  ability  to  use  the 
pencil.  I  have,  however,  as  just  stated  often  encouraged  the  child  by 
asking  him  to  «  make  "  or  "  write  "  a  ball,  or  "  choo-choo,"  or  other  of 
his  favorite  objects  for  drawing. 


DRAWING  49 

fairly  uniform  left-to-right  or  back  and  forth  motion  of 
the  hand  producing  sHghtly  curved  lines  four  to  six  inches 
in  length,  with  a  loop  at  each  end,  and  having  an  upward 
slant  of  about  thirty  degrees.  (See  Fig.  i,  Nos.  3  and  4.) 
The  left-to-right  motion  of  the  hand  in  marking  first  ap- 
peared in  the  second  week  of  the  fourteenth  months  and 
by  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  month  the  movement  was 
under  good  control ;  and,  with  few  exceptions,  it  was  the 
only  motion  made  when  penciling  until  the  end  of  the 
eighteenth  month. 

It  was  in  the  early  part  of  this  period  —  middle  of  the 
fourteenth  month  —  that  the  child  first  made  purposive 
hand-movements  with  the  pencil;  that  is,  first  tried  to 
make  marks.  In  other  words,  the  first  purposive  mark- 
ing began  with  the  long,  swinging  motion  producing  the 
lines  represented  in  Fig.  I,  No.  3. 

Third  Stage.  —  In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
month,  the  child  showed  a  tendency  to  break  away  from 
the  long,  curved  line  returning  upon  itself,  and  to  pro- 
duce a  greater  variety  of  figures,  most  of  which  in- 
cluded three  classes  of  lines :  right  to  left,  up  and  down, 
round  and  round,  or  circular  (Fig.  i,  No.  5).  Some- 
times the  marking  began  with  a  side  motion  of  the 
hand,  then  up  and  down  strokes  were  made  without 
lifting  the  pencil  from  the  paper;  then  a  circular 
swing  would  be  introduced  as  if  to  vary  the  perform- 
ance.    This  was  clearly  marking  for  fun,  or  merely  to 


50  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

make  marks,  much  as  at  a  later  period  the  child  used 
a  pair  of  scissors  to  cut  paper.  He  cut  paper  because  he 
liked  to ;  paper-cutting  was  an  end  in  itself.  And  so 
scratching,  making  numberless,  aimless  scribblings  was 
something  sufficient  in  itself.  To  have  asked  the  child, 
What  are  you  doing?  would  have  brought  the  reply, 
could  he  have  answered,  "  making  marks." 

Fourth  Stage. — The  next  step  was  the  awakening  of 
interest  in  the  letters  and  figures  which  I  drew  for  the 
child  as  copies.  During  the  twenty-second  and  twenty- 
third  months,  I  often  made  for  him  and  tried  to  teach 
him  the  letters  B  and  O ;  and  also,  for  his  entertainment, 
made  many  rough  sketches  of  men  and  horses.  Oc- 
casionally in  the  twenty-third  month,  the  child  asked 
for  a  "putu"  (a  pencil)  to  make  "mums"  (horses), 
Os,  Bs,  and  balls.  In  the  course  of  the  next  four  months 
he  often  begged  for  a  "  putu,"  and  if  asked.  What  do  you 
want  to  do  with  the  putu  ?  would  say  "  mum,"  or  "  baw," 
or  "  O  Bob,"  meaning  probably  that  he  wanted  to  mark 
as  I  had  when  drawing  a  horse,  ball,  or  letter  for  him.^ 

*  At  this  time,  the  child's  favorite  subjects  for  drawing  were  O,  "  mum  " 
(horse)  and  ball.  He  was  greatly  interested  in  those  objects  and  they 
were  selected  because  it  was  thought  it  would  be  easy  to  arouse  his  in- 
terest in  drawing  them.  Contrary  to  the  observations  of  others,  I  have 
not  found  that  the  human  figure  appeals  strongly  to  the  little  child  as  a 
thing  to  be  drawn  either  by  himself  or  by  others.  It  was  not  until  the 
last  month  of  his  third  year  that  R.  was  interested  in  making  a  "  man," 
although  the  figure  was  frequently  made  for  him,  and  a  special  effort  was 
made  to  make  it  attractive.     One  of  my  students  found  that  the  first  object 


DRAWING  51 

Fifth  Stage.  —  The  up  and  down,  round  and  round, 
back  and  forth  motion  described  above  was  displaced 
gradually  by  a  circular  or  oval  movement  somewhat  awk- 
wardly executed  and  producing  an  irregularly  shaped 
figure  —  yet  bearing  some  resemblance  to  circles  or  ovals 
(Fig.  I,  No.  6).  At  first  this  figure  was  made  for  its  own 
sake,  in  play,  without  any  idea  of  representing  anything 
by  it.  But  it  soon  came  to  stand  for  whatever  object  the 
child  said  he  was  drawing  —  a  horse,  a  ball,  or  a  man. 
So  whether  marking  merely  for  the  fun  of  marking,  or 
when  "  drawing,"  the  circular  or  elliptical  figure  was  the 
dominant  one  in  the  first  six  months  of  the  third  year. 

At  this  time  —  first  half  of  third  year  —  R.'s  drawings,  ex- 
cept of  O,  had  not  the  slightest  resemblance  to  the  things  he 
was  supposed  to  be  drawing,  being  merely  scratches  from  right 
to  left,  up  and  down,  round  and  round  —  most  frequently  the 
last.  What  did  he  mean  then  by  asking  for  pencil  and  paper, 
and  saying,  as  well  as  he  could,  that  he  wanted  to  "make  O," 
or  "  baw,"  or  '*  mum  "  ?  What  did  "  make  O,"  etc.,  mean  to 
him?  Did  he  think  that  "making"  one  of  these  figures  is 
merely  making  marks  on  paper  ?  Did  he  ask  for  pencil  and 
paper,  at  the  same  time  naming  a  given  subject  for  drawing 
(horse,  ball,  or  a  letter)  with  the  intention  of  trying  to  make  a 
representation  of  it  ?  or  did  he  mean  merely  that  he  wanted  to 
make  marks  ?  Did  he  have  a  mental  image  of  the  thing  named 
—  even  a  vague  one  —  which  he  wanted  to  project  on  paper? 
or  was  his  image,  such  as  it  was,  merely  of  scribbling  on  paper, 

which  her  subject  (twenty  months  old)  wanted  to  "  make "  was  a  cat ; 
another  found  that  a  child  of  twenty-two  months  wanted  to  make  "  Bow- 
ser," a  favorite  dog. 


52  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

partly  visual  and  partly  motor  ?  The  answer  to  these  ques- 
tions will  be,  at  best,  conjectural.  But  it  is  the  writer's  opin- 
ion that,  at  first,  the  request  for  pencil  and  paper  to  make  so 
and  so  was  merely  an  expression  of  the  child's  desire  to  scribble 
imitatively  and  did  not  mean  that  he  wanted,  as  an  older 
person  might,  to  "draw,"  /.  <?.,  represent  by  lines  the  figure 
named. 

Somewhat  later  the  child  does  image,  roughly,  the  things  he 
names,  and  he  wants  to  transfer  his  images  to  paper.  But  his 
drawing  is  merely  a  tangle  of  marks,  bearing  no  resemblance  to 
the  thing  he  sets  out  to  draw.  And  the  question  is,  why  doesn't 
he  produce  something  bearing  some  resemblance  to  his  mental 
copy?  An  answer  to  this  question  is  found,  in  the  main,  in 
the  single  consideration  that  the  child  lacks  the  abihty  to  draw 
what  he  images ;  coordination  between  the  hand  and  eye  is 
lacking.  The  child,  it  is  said,  is  not  practiced  in  drawing,  in 
the  u^e  of  the  pencil,  —  does  not  know  how  to  go  about  trans- 
ferring his  mental  images  to  paper ;  there  is  imperfect  coor- 
dination between  the  imaging  and  the  physical  activities  involved 
in  copying  images.  So  when  the  little  child  is  given  pencil 
and  paper  and  asked  to  draw  a  given  thing  it  turns  out  that  he 
is  unable  to  manage  the  image  and  the  necessary  hand-move- 
ments at  the  same  time,  to  bring  the  image  and  the  hand  into 
the  relation  of  guide  and  guided. 

Another  fact  which  should  be  taken  into  account  in  explain- 
ing the  child's  failure  in  transferring  his  images  to  paper  is  that 
frequently,  soon  after  the  child  begins  marking,  he  becomes  ab- 
sorbed in  the  pencil  and  the  marking  and  the  image  fades. 
Even  as  late  as  R.'s  thirtieth  month,  it  was  evident  from  his 
calmness  in  the  presence  of  the  most  unlikely  performances  that 
his  images  soon  disappeared ;  at  any  rate,  that  they  failed  to 
direct  his  hand-movements.  And  it  was  often  noticed,  as  the 
drawing  proceeded,  that  he  frequently  changed  his  mind  as  to 


DRAWING  53 

the  thing  he  wanted  to  make.  It  also  often  happened,  in  the 
course  of  his  scribbUng,  that  he  fancied  he  saw  another  figure 
in  the  scrawls,  and  this  fancied  figure  instead  of  being  looked 
upon  as  an  intruder  was  often  hailed  with  delight,  showing  that 
the  original  image,  whatever  it  was  like,  did  not  exercise  much, 
if  any,  influence  over  his  hand -movements. 

It  is  suggested  by  a  number  of  writers  that  the  child's  poor 
showing  in  drawing  is  due  to  his  rich  endowment  of  imaging 
power  which  enables  him  to  transform  the  most  unpromising 
scrawls  into  likenesses  of  real  objects ;  that  when  he  makes  an 
awkward  looking  circle,  or  scratches  back  and  forth,  or  makes 
a  number  of  detached  marks  that  these  are  sufficient  to  call  up 
in  his  mind  vivid  images  of  his  model,  just  as  in  the  adult  a  few 
notes  from  a  familiar  tune  often  revive  an  entire  musical  selec- 
tion, or  a  few  skilful  strokes  of  a  pencil  are  enough  to  call  to 
mind  a  familiar  face. 

With  reference  to  this  theory  it  may  be  said  that  although 
children  of  the  age  we  are  now  considering  —  one  and  a  half 
to  three  —  do  have  pretty  active  imaginations,  it  is  well  to  re- 
member that  rich  and  varied  imaging  requires  a  wealth  of  per- 
ceptual material,  clear  and  definite,  not  possessed  by  the 
average  child  under  three  years  of  age.  For  this  reason,  the 
writer  is  not  disposed  to  attach  great  importance  to  the  '*  vivid 
imagination  "  theory  as  an  explanation  of  the  defects  usually 
found  in  young  children's  drawings.  In  this  connection,  may 
be  mentioned  a  third  consideration  which  must  be  taken  into 
account  in  explaining  the  imperfections  of  the  early  drawings 
of  children;  the  fact,  namely,  that  what  one  may  call  the 
''observing  power  "  of  little  children  is  weak.  They  do  not  see 
many  things  in  a  given  situation,  and  the  few  they  do  see,  they 
see  very  imperfectly.  Their  images  must  of  necessity,  there- 
fore, be  vague,  indefinite,  and  crude  in  every  way.  This  fact, 
together  with  the  lack  of  technical  skill  mentioned  above,  ex- 


54  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

plain  in  large  part  the  poor  showing  little  children  make  in 
drawing.* 

Sixth  Stage.  —  Beginning  to  copy  models.  An  inter- 
esting theoretic  question  is,  When  does  it  first  occur  to  a 
child  that  mere  scratching  and  aimless  scribbling  is  not 
really  making  the  thing  he  says  he  is  making?  When 
does  he  begin  to  compare  critically  his  own  pencilings 
with  the  copy  —  either  the  real  object  or  the  copy  set  for 
him  by  others  —  and  see  that  his  own  drawings  or  pencil- 
ings are  unlike  the  models  ?  When  does  he  discover  that 
swinging  the  pencil  back  and  forth,  round  and  round  does 
not  produce  a  thing  like  the  copy?  Put  otherwise, 
when  does  the  idea  of  representation  begin  to  influence 
his  marking?  and  when  does  he  cease  making  conven- 
tional figures  —  circles,  for  example,  to  represent  all  sorts 
of  objects  ?  and  when  does  he  begin  to  make  different 
figures  to  represent  different  objects  ?  In  looking 
through  R.'s  drawings  for  answers  to  these  questions,  one 
is  unable  to  find  anything  to  suggest  that  he  tried  to  fol- 
low the  copy  before  the  first  week  of  the  twenty-ninth 
month,  or  that  he  showed  any  disposition  to  break  away 
from  the  circular  motion,  the  dominant  one  for  all  kinds 
of  figures  at  that  time.  In  the  week  named,  he  made  a 
series  of  vertical  lines  in  four  different  attempts  to  copy 
a  triangle  which  had  been  drawn  for  him.     But  even  this 

*  For  full  discussion  of  the  psychology  of  drawing,  see  Sully,  Studies  of 
Childhood,  p.  385  fF. ;  also  Baldwin,  Mental  Development^  p.  83f. 


DRAWING  55 

was  not  so  much  an  imitation  of  the  figure  as  of  the 
hand-movements  made  in  drawing  the  triangles :  he  took 
but  Httle  notice  of  the  figure  before  him.  On  the 
twenty-first  day  of  the  thirty-first  month,  the  child  made  an 
unmistakable  effort  to  copy  an  O  which  had  been  drawn 
for  him.  Circular  figures  had  been  made  to  stand  for  O 
prior  to  that  date,  but  they  had  not  been  made  with  the 
care  and  deliberation  which  marked  the  making  of  O  on 
the  day  named.  Instead  of  the  round  and  round  pencil 
movement  which  was  made  usually  in  drawing  all  sorts 
of  figures,  the  motion,  on  the  latter  date,  was  slow  and 
painstaking,  and  the  result,  for  unpracticed  fingers,  was 
good.i     (See  Fig.  5,  p.  69.) 

Seventh  Stage,  —  The  gradual  differentiation  of  forms 
and  the  appearance  of  a  particular  kind  of  figure  to  rep- 
resent each  of  the  child's  favorite  drawing  subjects.  Be- 
ginning with  R.'s  thirty-second  month  the  circular  figure 
gradually  came  to  be  reserved  to  represent  "  O "  and 
ball,  while  figures  bearing  some  resemblance  to  one  or 
more  features  of  horses  and  men  were  drawn  to  repre- 
sent those  objects.  For  example,  on  the  seventh  day  of 
the  thirty-second  month  the  child  represented  "  Jack  " 
(a  horse)  by  first  drawing  a  line  more  or  less  straight, 
then   drawing  a  variable  number  of  lines  (representing 

'  This  was  the  first  appearance  of  the  "  tracery  imitation  "  observed  by 
Baldwin  in  his  child's  twenty-seventh  month.  See  Mental  Development^ 
p.  86f. 


56  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

legs)  at  right  angles  to  and  across  the  first  line  (Fig. 
3,  No.  4)}  This  was  the  second  step  in  the  process  of 
differentiating  his  drawings.  Figures  were  coming  to 
have  particular  and  special  characteristics  resembling 
more  or  less  the  original.  For  example,  the  lines  in  the 
drawing  of  the  horse,  as  just  stated,  stand  for  legs,  or 
"  feet "  as  the  child  called  them.  Despite  the  obvious 
defects  of  this  performance  it  was  a  notable  step  in  ad- 
vance, and  marked  the  beginning  of  a  process  of  special- 
izing which  was  observable  in  all  subsequent  drawing. 
The  nature  of  later  changes  which  appeared  in  R.'s 
drawings  can  be  described  best  in  an  account  of  the 
child's  learning  to  draw  a  "  man,"  and  to  that  account  we 
may  now  turn. 

R.'s    LEARNING   TO   DRAW   "  MAN  " 

The  accompanying  drawings  (i-7,  Fig.  2)  represent 
the  more  important  changes  in  "  the  pictorial  evolution  " 
of  R.'s  "  man,"  beginning  with  the  first  week  of  the 
child's  twenty-eighth  month  and  concluding  with  the  first 

1  See  Sully,  Studies  of  Childhood^  p.  334,  for  reproduction,  from  Cooke's 
articles,  of  drawings  of  a  "  cat "  which  are  practically  the  same  as  R. 
made  to  represent  Jack  (horse).  It  seems  probable  that  in  both  cases  the 
children  were  trying  to  represent  the  animal's  legs,  or  the  fact  that  the 
animal  has  legs.  It  does  not  seem  unlikely  that  the  little  girl  men- 
tioned by  Cooke,  who  was  in  her  fourth  year,  aimed  to  convey  the  addi- 
tional fact  that  the  quadruped  «  cat  "  has  a  great  many  legs.  At  the  time 
R.  made  the  drawing  reproduced  here  the  idea  "  a  great  many  "  had  not 
yet  entered  his  mind. 


58  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

week  of  his  thirty-seventh  month,  a  period  of  nine 
months. 

Most,  though  not  all,  of  the  drawings  were  made  with 
the  copy  before  him.  (The  copy,  the  "  man  "  which  was 
drawn  for  him  consisted  of  a  circular  figure  about  an 
inch  in  diameter  which  stood  for  the  head,  or  face ;  two 
small  circles  for  eyes ;  a  straight  line  for  the  nose,  another 
for  the  mouth ;  a  squarish  figure  with  two  attaching  lines 
represented  the  body  and  neck ;  arms  were  represented 
by  two  straight  lines,  one  on  each  side  of  the  body ;  and 
two  lines  formed  the  legs.) 

During  the  first  four  months  of  this  period,  when  asked 
to  make  a  man,  the  child  drew  either  irregular  circular 
figures  or  disconnected  scrawls  of  which  drawing  No.  i, 
Fig.  2  is  fairly  representative.  A  change  came  in  the  sec- 
ond week  of  the  thirty- second  month  when  he  began  to 
make  "  man  "  by  drawing  lines  at  right  angles  to  a  base 
line  (Fig.  2,  No.  2).  During  the  remainder  of  the  thirty- 
second  month,  this  figure  —  which  was  also,  at  that  time, 
his  favorite  method  of  representing  a  horse  —  was  made 
more  frequently  than  any  other  in  response  to  the  request 
to  make  a  "  man."  Another  type  of  "  man  "  appeared 
in  the  thirty-fourth  month ;  namely,  an  elongated  figure 
made  by  drawing  two  vertical,  roughly  parallel  lines  and 
joining  them  at  top  and  bottom  (Fig.  2,  No.  3).  When 
he  first  drew  this  figure  it  was  supposed  that  he  was  try- 
ing to  represent  the  legs.     But  after  questioning  him,  I 


DRAWING  59 

concluded  that  he  was  trying  to  represent  the  figure  as  a 
whole ;  or  rather  he  had  caught  the  notion  of  enclosing 
an  area  by  lines ;  that  is,  drawing  a  man  meant  —  to  him 
—  enclosing  a  space  with  lines. 

The  first  unmistakable  attempt  to  represent  some  of 
the  parts  of  the  human  figure  was  made  on  the  fifteenth 
day  of  the  thirty-fifth  month.  (See  Fig.  2,  No.  4,  in 
which  appear  one  rudimentary  arm,  and  five  legs.  Parsi- 
mony in  furnishing  arms  is  more  than  offset  by  a  gener- 
ous supply  of  legs.)  Drawing  No.  5,  Fig.  2,  marks 
another  advance.  Although  the  smaller  features  are 
neglected,  there  is  a  clear  advance  in  the  differentiation 
of  head  and  body.  But  the  distinction  was  only  for  the 
day  or  moment.  It  did  not  appear  again  for  many 
months.  Fig.  2,  No.  6,  made  in  the  last  week  of  the 
third  year  shows  the  head,  ears,  hair,  arms  and  legs. 
No.  7,  Fig.  2,  the  last  of  this  series,  made  in  the  first 
week  of  the  fourth  year,  consists  of  a  head,  two  eyes,  two 
arms,  two  hands,  two  feet  or  legs,  and  a  scanty  bit  of 
raiment,  "  dess,"  suspended  from  the  right  arm.  This 
"  man  "  was  drawn  from  memory,  without  a  copy. 

An  examination  of  the  entire  series  of  drawings  of  the 
human  figure  brings  to  light  two  characteristics  which 
are  found  in  every  series  of  drawings  (whether  of  man, 
horse,  or  "  choo-choo")  which  ran  through  a  long  period. 
In  the  first  place,  it  is  noted  that  the  advance  from  crude, 
formless  scrawls  to  figures  bearing  some  resemblance  to 


\ 


60  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

the  original,  the  copy  or  the  object,  was  not  by  any 
means  a  steady,  forward  movement.  One  was  disap- 
pointed continually  by  the  failures  to  make  secure  the 
progressive  steps,  by  the  frequent  reversions,  or  lapses  to 
earlier,  cruder  figures.  For  example.  No.  5,  Fig.  2,  made 
on  the  nineteenth  day  of  the  thirty-sixth  month,  which 
gave  such  promise  of  forthcoming  brilliant  performances, 
was  followed  the  next  day  by  a  lapse  into  characterless 
scribble,  and  a  few  days  later  that  old  primitive  form 
—  a  base  line  with  a  number  of  lines  drawn  at  right 
angles  to  it  —  was  revived  and  offered  as  a  "man." 
These  lapses,  which,  as  was  said,  were  noted  in  every 
long  series,  were  due  in  most  cases  to  the  caprice  of  the 
child  or  to  indifference.  In  other  cases,  they  seemed  to 
signify  an  indefinite  trying  or  experimenting  for  a  more 
adequate  means  of  representation.  Apparently,  there 
was  a  slight  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  the  drawing, 
and  an  accompanying  vague,  half-conscious  desire  to  do 
something  else,  no  great  matter  what. 

Another  characteristic,  particularly  of  the  drawing  of 
the  last  months  of  the  third  year,  was  the  tendency  to 
pick  out  and  draw  a  few  features  or  parts  one  day  and  to 
select  different  ones  on  the  day  following.  One  expects 
that  if,  for  example,  the  ears  and  arms  of  a  man  are 
drawn  on  a  given  day  that  they  will  be  drawn  on  the  next 
and  succeeding  days.  But  not  so :  ears  and  arms  may 
be  ignored  entirely,  and  eyes  and  hair,  which  had  been 


DRAWING  6l 

neglected  on  the  preceding  day,  will  have  a  conspicuous 
place.  In  a  word,  in  this  period  of  incomplete  represen- 
tation of  parts,  it  is  a  matter  of  chance  which  will  be  se- 
lected, depending,  of  course,  upon  what  sort  of  ideas 
float  into  the  child's  mind. 

General  defects  of  early  drawings.  —  The  majority  of 
the  defects  which  characterize  the  drawings  of  little  chil- 
dren (and  also  of  primitive  peoples,  as  Sully  shows  in  his 
Studies,  Chap.  X)  may  be  classed  under  the  following 
heads:  (i)  incomplete  enumeration  of  parts,  (2)  the 
parts  which  are  represented  are  placed  in  wrong  relations 
to  one  another,  (3)  there  is  Httle  regard  for  the  propor- 
tionate sizes  of  the  parts  drawn,  (4)  the  child's  representa- 
tions of  the  several  features  of  the  copy  bear  little  or  no 
resemblance  to  the  original.  Closely  related  to  the  char- 
acteristic last  named  is  the  apparent  disregard  of  the 
differences  between  the  various  parts  of  the  things  he  is 
delineating.  For  example,  the  same  general  irregular 
ovoid  stands  for  either  eyes  or  hands  (Fig.  2,  No.  7) ; 
and  a  number  of  up  and  down  scratches  stand  for  either 
hair  or  ears,  which  —  in  either  case  —  being  suggested, 
not  by  any  clear  difference  in  the  drawings  of  the  parts, 
but  by  the  position  in  the  figure  (Fig.  2,  No.  6).  Each 
class  of  imperfections  just  mentioned  will  be  described 
briefly  by  reference  to  the  accompanying  drawings. 

(i)  Incomplete  enumeration  of  parts.  —  The  drawings 
of  little  children  are  characterized  by  incompleteness  in 


Fig.  3. 
(62) 


DRAWING  63 

the  number  of  parts  drawn.  A  glance  at  R.'s  drawings 
of  a  man,  Fig.  2,  will  make  this  clear.  Even  the  best 
drawing  of  the  series  —  No.  7  —  omits  trunk,  mouth, 
nose,  and  neck,  all  of  which  were  in  the  copies  which  had 
been  made  for  him,  and  had  been  named  by  the  child 
for  more  than  five  months.  If  it  is  said  that  incomplete 
enumeration  of  parts  is  a  common  defect  of  primitive 
drawing  everywhere,  it  may  be  said  conversely  that 
progress  in  artistic  ability  involves,  among  other  things, 
increasing  care  to  represent  all  the  features  of  the  copy. 
It  may  be  noted,  further,  that  there  is  no  relation  be- 
tween the  child's  ability  to  distinguish  and  name  the 
features  of  the  copy  and  his  desire  to  represent  them 
in  his  drawings.  That  is,  the  ability  to  recognize  and 
name  the  several  features  of  the  copy  is  no  warrant  that 
when  he  "  draws  "  he  will  try  to  represent  the  parts  so 
recognized  and  named.  In  the  early  stages  of  drawing, 
knowledge  of  the  nanies  of  the  several  features  is  far  in 
advance  of  the  desire  to  make  them  parts  of  his  drawings. 
For  example,  on  a  certain  day  of  his  thirty-second 
month,  R.,  when  asked,  what  is  that  ?  accompanied  by  a 
pointing  gesture  to  the  different  features  of  a  drawing  of 
a  man,  named  the  head,  eyes,  mouth,  neck,  body,  arms 
and  feet  —  then  proceeded  to  draw  a  "  man  "  like  that 
represented  in  Fig.  2,  No.  2. 

This  "  scanty  abstract  treatment "  in  drawing  when 
compared  with  the  child's  evident  knowledge  of  the  copy 


64  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

and  his  ability  to  image  it,  leads  Sully  and  others  to  the 
conclusion  that  at  this  stage  the  child's  drawings  are  in- 
tended only  as  symbols.  "  The  little  artist,"  as  Sully  has 
it,  "  is  still  much  more  of  a  symbolist  than  a  naturalist." 
The  child's  inability  to  execute  manually  what  is  in  his 
mind  is  another  factor  which  runs  alongside  other  de- 
fects which  are  chiefly  mental  in  character. 

(2)  Wrong  placing  of  parts.  —  Of  course,  the  child 
makes  many  ludicrous  blunders  in  locating  the  several 
particular  features  of  his  drawings.  The  arms,  of  the 
"  man,"  e.g.,  are  attached  to  the  head,  the  eyes  sometimes 
are  placed  clear  outside  the  contour  representing  the  head, 
and  the  mustache  may  be  elevated  to  a  position  above 
the.  eyes.  These  blunders  occur  in  most  cases  simply 
because  the  child  does  not  think  about  the  true  relations 
of  parts.  In  fact,  the  idea  that  there  is  a  fixed  relation- 
ship of  parts  which  should  be  observed  does  not  occur  to 
him,  and  so  has  no  place  in  his  plan  or  idea  of  representa- 
tion. And  in  those  cases  in  which  he  does  relate  prop- 
erly the  different  features,  say  of  the  human  figure,  it  is  not 
from  his  having  taken  thought  about  the  matter,  but 
merely  because  he  follows  the  copy,  and  not  the  real 
object  —  the  human  figure,  the  horse,  the  "  choo-choo  " 
—  what  not.  Of  course,  in  drawing  such  a  simple  thing 
as  a  ball  it  seems  likely  that  the  image  of  a  real  ball  in- 
fluences his  penciling  even  at  a  very  early  age.  But 
when  drawing  a  complex  thing  like  a  horse, "  choo-choo," 


Fig.  4. 
(65) 


66  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

or  human  figure  only  a  few  features  of  the  real  object 
have  impressed  themselves  strongly  enough  upon  his 
mind,  before  the  end  of  the  third  year,  to  affect  his  draw- 
ing. In  all  of  R.'s  early  drawings  there  was  a  mixture  of 
imitation  of  the  teacher's  copy  and  of  parts  or  features 
suggested  by  what  he  knew  of  the  real  object  he  was 
trying  to  draw.  Sometimes,  usually,  I  believe,  he  was 
influenced  largely  by  his  memory  o.  what  the  copy  was 
like.^  At  other  times,  it  was  evident  that  he  was  putting 
in  his  drawing  features  which  he  knew  belonged  there 
even  when  they  had  not  been  in  the  copy. 

(3)  Proportion.  —  vVe  have  seen  that  the  little  artist 
has  no  thought  or  care  about  completeness  in  the  enu- 
meration of  parts,  and  that  he  has  no  scruples  about  the 
positions  assigned  to  the  different  parts.  We  find  also 
that  he  is  at  no  pains  to  maintain  in  correct  proportion 
the  sizes  of  the  various  parts  of  the  figures  he  draws.  At 
the  earliest  stage,  the  head  is  likely  to  overshadow  all 
t)ther  parts,  and  for  several  years  continues  to  be  the 
most  conspicuous  feature  in  all  drawings  of  the  human 
figure.  (See  Fig.  2,  Nos.  6  and  7.)  In  some  drawings 
which  belong  to  this  early  period  the  eyes  are  almost  as 
big  as  the  head,  and  in  one  of  R.'s  drawings,  made  when 
he  was  a  few  days  past  three,  the  two  eyes  taken  together 

*  I  say  "  memory  of  copy  "  neaning  his  memory  of  seeing  the  copy 
drawn,  what  was  done,  what  movements  were  made,  etc.  He  seldom 
looked  at  the  copy  after  he  began  to  draw. 


DRAWING  67 

entirely  obscured  the  head  which  was  itself  very  large. 
In  the  way  of  parenthesis,  it  may  be  said  that  the  tend- 
ency of  the  drawing  which  I  have  observed  was  to  make 
the  parts  as  big  as  possible.  That  is,  the  child  wanted 
to  make  everything  on  a  generous  scale.  There  was  de- 
light in  making  "  big  feet,"  "  big  eyes,"  and  so  on.  And 
the  fact  that,  as  a  rule,  the  head  is  made  first,  thus  getting 
first  choice  of  the  available  space  accounts,  in  part,  for 
the  overshadowing  proportions  which  it  usually  assumes. 
At  any  rate,  it  seems  clear  that  it  is  not  because  the  head 
is  looked  upon  as  vastly  more  important  than  any  other 
part  that  it  occupies  so  large  a  plaice  in  the  early  draw- 
ings of  the  human  figure.  As  was  seen  above,  the  eyes 
are  sometimes  drawn  on  a  scale  of  greater  proportionate 
magnitude  than  the  head;  and  Fig.  2,  No.  7,  shows 
enormous  hands  attached  to  delicate,  reed  like  arms  which 
give  the  impression  of  being  utterly  inadequate  for  the 
task  imposed  upon  them.  Here,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
other  defects  already  described,  the  imperfections  arise 
both  from  the  child's  taking  no  thought  at  all  about  the 
matter  of  accurate  representation ;  and  also  from  his  lack 
of  technical  ability  to  execute  what  is  in  his  mind. 

(4)  Imperfect  representation  of  the  several  parts  or 
features.  —  We  have  seen  that  it  is  only  by  virtue  of  a 
liberal  construction  that  we  are  warranted  in  seeing  in  the 
child's  early  drawings  resemblance  to  the  things  he  says 
he  is  drawing.     As  wholes  they  are  only  rough  copies. 


68  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

When  one  passes  to  a  survey  of  the  separate  parts  or 
features,  it  is  found  that  the  drawing  is  equally  crude. 
The  gradual  changes  in  the  manner  of  drawing  the  dif- 
ferent parts  or  features  —  for  example,  the  eye,  or  hand, 
or  mouth  —  what  Sully  terms  "  the  gradual  artistic  evo- 
lution of  the  features," — furnish  interesting  results  on  both 
the  mental  and  motor  sides.  The  manner  of  representing 
the  human  hand,  for  example,  passes  through  a  number 
of  fairly  distinct  stages.  Sully  describes  five  of  these,  as 
follows :  (i)  lines  drawn  across  and  at  right  angles  to  the 
line  which  stands  for  the  arm ;  (2)  the  claw  hand  in  which 
the  fingers  are  represented  by  a  number  of  lines  extend- 
ing from  the  end  of  the  arm,  suggesting  birds'  claws ;  (3) 
the  rake  hand  in  which  the  fingers  are  attached,  Hke  teeth 
in  a  comb,  to  a  line  drawn  across  the  end  of  the  arm ; 
(4)  the  burr  hand,  when  the  fingers  are  made  to  radiate 
from  a  central  blur  or  patch  which,  presumably,  stands 
for  the  hand;  (5)  a  cactus  hand  which  consists  of  an 
irregular  circle  to  which  are  attached  the  outlines  of  a 
varying  number  of  fingers. 

It  should  be  understood  that  Professor  Sully  derived  his 
description  of  the  artistic  evolution  of  the  hand  from  an  examin- 
ation of  a  large  number  of  drawings,  and  it  is  not  supposed  that 
it  represents  the^changes  through  whicH  every  child's  learning  to 
draw  the  hand  passes.  All  that  one  can  predict  with  confidence 
regarding  the  progress  in  a  given  child's  drawings  of  any  par- 
ticular feature,  as  the  hand,  is  that  it  will  show  a  process  of 
differentiation  and  specialization ;  that  the  progress  will  accord, 


(69) 


70  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

in  a  general  way,  with  Spencer's  formula  for  the  process  of 
evolution,  "change  from  an  indefinite,  incoherent  homogeneity 
to  a  definite,  coherent  heterogeneity  "  ;  that  there  will  be  addi- 
tions of  parts,  a  filling  in  of  details,  and  a  gradual  improvement 
in  the  manner  of  delineating  the  details. 

In  a  series  of  drawings  which  does  not  extend  beyond 
the  end  of  the  third  year  (such  as  accompanies  this  re- 
view) the  changes  in  the  manner  of  representing  the 
various  features  of  this  or  that  figure  are  too  few  to  afford 
any  suggestion  as  to  the  direction  which  later  changes 
will  take,  or  as  to  what  principles  will  control  the  pic- 
torial evolution  of  this,  that,  or  the  other  feature.  But 
we  may  stop  for  a  glance  at  the  ways  in  which  some  of 
the  features  are  first  represented.  Turning  to  R.'s  draw- 
ings of  a  "  man,"  Fig.  2,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  "  eye  "  is 
represented  by  a  large,  crudely  made  ovoid ;  the  arm,  by 
a  straight  line ;  the  hand  by  a  large  circular  figure  bear- 
ing no  resemblance  to  a  human  hand ;  the  feet  or  legs, 
by  two  straight  lines  extending  downward  from  the 
head  ;  hair  and  ears  by  a  number  of  short  lines  scratched 
on  the  irregular  circular  figure  which  represents  the  head. 
Some  of  these  methods  of  representing  particular  features 
were  suggested  by  the  copy  with  which  he  had  become 
familiar ;  others  were  of  the  child's  own  invention,  e.  g.y 
the  "  hand  "  in  Fig.  2,  No.  7.  Not  only  was  the  manner 
of  drawing  the  "  hand  "  original  with  the  child,  but  the 
idea  of  drawing  it  at  all  was  his  own.     For  the  hand  was 


DRAWING  71 

not  shown  in  the  copies  which  had  been  made  for  him  ; 
nor  was  "  hand  "  suggested  as  a  thing  needed  to  complete 
the  figure.  It  will  be  observed  that  there  was  yet  no 
attempt  to  represent  the  fingers. 

Fig-  3>  page  62,  represents  seven  stages  in  R.'s  learn- 
ing to  draw  a  horse ;  Fig.  4  shows  four  stages  in  the 
evolution  of  the  locomotive  ("  choo-choo "),  and  Fig.  5 
contains  a  miscellaneous  collection  of  R.'s  drawings, — 
an  elephant,  a  "  wow-wow,"  a  triangle,  a  right  angle, 
a  square,  and  an  O. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE   FEELINGS   AND   THEIR    EXPRESSION 

We  mean  by  "  feelings  "  the  pleasant  or  unpleasant, 
agreeable  or  disagreeable  aspects  of  our  mental  experi- 
ences. We  describe  sensations,  say  of  smell  or  taste, 
as  agreeable  or  disagreeable ;  and  certain  ideas,  as  of  the 
loss  of  friends,  as  painful,  or  the  thought  of  possible 
future  good  fortune  as  pleasant.  Very  often  the  feeling 
factor  or  aspect  of  a  mental  process  is  so  prominent  that 
it  obscures  its  sensational  or  ideational  basis,  and  then 
the  process  is  named  according  to  the  nature  of  the  feel- 
ing element.  Thus  we  have  mental  experiences  which 
we  call  joy,  grief,  fear,  anger,  hope,  surprise,  pity,  in 
which  the  affective  or  feeling  factor  is  so  large  that  the 
cognitive  and  volitional  factors  are  overshadowed. 

Psychologists  usually  classify  feelings  either  according 
to  their  dominant  tone  as  pleasant  or  unpleasant;  or, 
according  to  the  presentative  bases  accompanying  their 
appearance,  as  sense-feelings  and  idea-feelings,  or  emo- 
tions. Sense-feelings  arise  in  connection  with  sensations 
of  heat,  cold,  taste,  srnell,  color,  sound,  and  so  forth. 
Emotions  or  idea-feelings  are  experienced  in  connection 
with  ideas  and  idea-complexes,  and  are  known  as  joy, 
grief,  anger,  fear,  love,  hate  and  so  on.     Sense-feelings 

72 


Plate  II. — 1.  Throwing  stones  on  ice  to  see  them  glide. 

2.  Grimaces  when  unable  to  recall  the  name  of  a  card, 

3.  Fear  of  falling.  4  and  5.  Pouting.  6  and  7.  Showing 
position  of  the  hand  in  reaching  at  two  different  periods 
— 10th  and  29th  months. 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION         73 

are  distinguished  from  idea-feelings  by  the  fact  that  the 
former  arise  in  connection  with  the  peripheral  stimula- 
tion of  the  sense-organs  while  emotions  are  said  to  be 
centrally  excited.  The  sense-feelings  are  still  further 
marked  off  from  the  emotions  by  the  fact  that  the 
former  involve  a  relatively  small  part  of  the  organism, 
while  the  latter  affect  more  or  less  the  whole  organism  — 
the  muscles,  the  organs  of  circulation,  of  respiration  and 
digestion,  of  secretion,  and,  in  some  kinds  of  emotion, 
the  lachrymal  glands  conspicuously.  The  emotive  re- 
action is  said  to  show  itself  in  a  greater  number  of  the 
parts  of  the  nervous  system  than  the  sense-feeling  re- 
action. 

Sully  groups  the  emotions  into  three  general  classes  "ac- 
cording to  the  order  of  appearance."  To  the  first  class 
belong  *•  certain  unspecialized  manifestations  of  pleasurable 
and  painful  feeling,  which  are  best  described  by  the  current 
terras,  joy  and  grief."  These  emotive  states  involve  ^ 
minimum  of  representation,  and  so  come  nearest  to  the  sense- 
feelings.  "  All  they  include  is  the  representation  of  a  pleasur- 
able or  painful  experience  just  over  .  .  .  and  the  repre- 
sentation of  such  an  experience  in  the  immediate  future 
through  the  suggestive  force  of  present  precepts."  (2)  Next 
in  order  of  appearance  and  of  complexity  of  presentative  basis 
come  the  specialized  forms  of  emotion,  such  as  anger  and  fear. 
These,  as  Sully  observes,  are  experienced  by  all  the  higher 
animals  and  maybe  marked  off  as  the  "Animal"  emotions. 
(3)  A  third  order  of  emotions  is  characterized  by  a  high  degree 
of  the  representative  or  ideational  element.     To  this  latter 


74  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

group  belong  sympathy,  and  the  so-called  abstract  sentiments 
of  the  true,  the  beautiful,  and  the  good.  This  classification 
corresponds,  so  Sully  believes,  with  the  general  order  of  de- 
velopment of  the  emotions  in  the  individual  and  the  race/ 

Keeping  in  mind  the  classification  of  feelings  into,  (i) 
sense-feelings,  and  (2)  idea-feelings,  or  emotions,  we  may 
now  consider  some  of  the  more  prominent  aspects  of  the 
feeling  life  of  infancy  and  early  childhood. 

(a)     sense-feelings 

Feeling  and  its  expression  occupy  a  large  place  in  the 
infant's  activities.  The  early  months  of  the  normal 
baby's  life  yield  a  multitude  of  expressions  which  un- 
critical observation  looks  upon  as  signs  of  comfort  or 
discomfort,  of  pleasure  or  pain,  of  joy  or  grief.'  Ac- 
cording to  common  belief  the  baby  is  a  bundle  of 
feelings.     This  is  to  say  that  the  child's  states  —  whether 

J  Sully,  The  Human  Mind,  New  York,  1892,  Vol.  II,  p.  84ff. 

2  It  is  of  interest  to  note  how  variously  these  early  expressions  have 
been  interpreted.  The  first  cry,  for  example,  to  Kant  was  a  cry  of  «« in- 
dignation and  aroused  wrath  "  ;  to  Schwartz,  a  "  shout  of  joy  " ;  and  to 
Semmig,  who  reached  the  climax  of  poetic  interpretation,  the  first  cry 
was  "  Heavenly  music  .  .  .  sacred  voice  of  life,  first  sound  of  the 
poem  of  a  heart,  first  note  of  the  symphony  of  human  life,  thou  echo  of 
God's  word  !  .  .  .  Oh,  cry  of  the  baby  in  the  night,  nightingale  song 
for  mother  and  father ! "  (Quoted  by  Miss  Shinn,  The  Biography  of  a 
Baby,  p.  21.)  On  the  other  hand,  the  man  of  science  is  disposed  to  re- 
gard the  first  cries  as  only  "  pure  reflex  effects "  (Preyer),  or  as 
"  automatic  affairs  "  (King)  and  to  look  upon  them  as  entirely  lacking  in 
emotional  significance. 


THE  FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION         75 

of  pleasure  or  of  pain,  of  joy  or  grief,  of  anger  or  fear 
—  are  free  and  unhampered  in  their  expression ;  that  the 
child's  feelings  express  themselves  in  highly  demonstra- 
tive ways,  that  a  painful  sensation  or  idea  —  even  a  mild 
one  —  makes  a  great  commotion  in  the  child's  organism. 
On  slight  occasion  he  breaks  out  into  crying  or  into  peals 
of  laughter;  he  is  tickled,  and  injured  as  well,  with  a 
straw.  He  thinks  little,  his  understanding  is  simple  and 
unschooled,  of  deliberation  he  knows  nothing,  and 
popular  speech  describes  him  as  the  creature  or  play- 
thing of  his  feelings. 

Feelings  of  pleasure.  —  The  baby's  pain-expressing 
apparatus  seems  to  be  more  highly  developed  at  birth 
and  in  the  early  weeks  than  the  apparatus  for  expressing 
pleasure.  The  baby's  expressions  of  comfort  and  well- 
being,  when  compared  with  those  of  discomfort,  are 
mild  and  unnoticeable.  The  biological  reason  for  this 
difference  is  that  in  the  early  stage  it  is  more  important 
that  the  baby's  attendants  should  take  cognizance  of  his 
unpleasant  than  of  his  pleasant  states.  So  it  is  found 
that  the  early  weeks  do  not  furnish  strong  outward  signs 
or  demonstrations  of  the  comfort  the  child  probably 
feels.  And  yet  there  are  a  few  changes,  particularly  of 
facial  expression,  which  one  can  note  unmistakably,  and 
which,  if  they  were  seen  in  the  adult,  would  unhesitat- 
ingly be  called  pleasant.  For  example,  some  stimuli  are 
followed  by  a  clear  lightening  of  the  face,  the  customary 


76  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

anxious  or  pinched  look  of  the  face  gives  way  to  an  ex- 
pression distinctly  brighter  and  easier,  the  eyes  are  opened 
wider,  the  muscles  are  relaxed,  and  if  there  is  no  smile 
there  seems  to  be  all  readiness  for  it.^ 

How  much,  if  any,  conscious  value  the  baby's  first  ex- 
pressions of  pleasure  have  we  cannot  know.  They  may 
be,  probably  are,  in  the  first  days,  mechanical  responses 
of  the  organism,  and  entirely  lacking  in  conscious  con- 
comitants. But  we  are  sure  that  almost  from  the  moment 
of  birth  certain  kinds~bf  stimuli  call  forth  expressions  of 
comfort  and  discomfort,  that  the  organism  responds  uni- 
formly in  a  characteristic  manner  to  various  sense  stimuli. 
One  kind  of  stimulus  is  followed  by  a  grimace,  by  shrink- 
ing, or  an  outburst  of  crying,  while  another  is  followed 
by  a  calm  expression,  by  open  eyes,  and  a  general  ex- 
pression of  comfort  and  satisfaction. 

Leaving  aside  the  unanswerable  question  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  mental  concomitants  of  the  earlier  feeling- 
expressions,  or  whether,  at  first,  there  is  any  mental 
associate  at  all,  it  may  still  be  said  that  pleasurable  ex- 
pressions soon  appear,  (i)  in  connection  with  the  mod- 
erate stimulation,   if  not   too  prolonged,  of  the  child's 

» It  may  be  said  that  almost  from  the  first  it  is  possible  to  distinguish 
three  kinds  of  feeling  expressions:  first  those  which  are  unmistakably 
painful,  as  the  various  kinds  of^iixing,;  second,  the  native  shriveled, 
pinched,  anxious,  or  even  distressed  look  the  average  baby  wears  for  the 
first  few  days ;  third,  the  lighter,  calmer,  easier  expression  which  follows 
agreeable  stimuli  of  any  sort. 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION         77 

sense-organs.^  (2)  Pleasure  accompanies  the  free,  un- 
hampered gratification  of  the  child's  original  impulses, 
such  as  the  instinct  to  clasp  and  cling,  to  play,  to  walk 
and  so  on.  (3)  Expressions  of  pleasure  appear,  also,  in 
response  to  the  laughing  prattle  of  the  child's  associates. 
The  organism  seems  to  be  tuned  to  respond  in  a  charac- 
teristic manner  to  the  happy  manners  of  other  persons, 
though  there  are  many  exceptions  casting  doubt  upon 
the  general  validity  of  this  statement. 

It  seems  likely  that  the  earliest  pleasant  feelings  arise 
in  connection  with  the  food-taking  process,  with  the  sen- 
sations of  touch,  temperature,  and  taste.  Thus,  on  the 
third  day,  I  noticed  that  when  R.  took  saffron  tea  from  a 
teaspoon  his  face  assumed  an  expression  decidedly  more 
pleasant  than  that  which  preceded  or  followed.  A  simi- 
lar easier,  brighter  expression  came  over  his  face  on  the 
following  day  when  he  was  allowed  to  'suck  a  piece  of 
sugar,  and  when  given  a  few  drops  of  Castoria,  or  a  few 
drops  of  brandy  in  water.  Whether  or  not  the  lighter 
expression  on  the  baby's  face  represented  a  definite  feel- 
ing-tone is,  of  course,  open  to  question.     It  may  have 

^  In  order  to  call  forth  signs  of  pleasure,  a  stimulus  must  have,  besides  a 
certain  intensity  and  duration,  a  certain  quality  or  character.  Moder- 
ately sweet  tastes,  for  example,  are  pleasing,  while  bitters  and  sours  are 
disagreeable  from  the  first.  .  .  .  But  see  Zeitschrift  fiir  psy.  und 
phys.  der  Sinnesorgane,  Bd.  XXVII,  Heft  1-2,  for  report  by  Sternberg 
upon  the  taste  sense  of  an  anencephalic  infant  that  responded  with  a 
pleased  expression  to  sweet  substances  and  with  expressions  of  dislike  to 
sours,  bitters  and  salts. 


78  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

been  a  mere  organic  response,  entirely  lacking  in  "  con- 
scious value."  Other  experiences  of  the  first  month 
which  seemed  pleasing  were:  Being  washed  in  warm 
water  (fourth  day) ;  the  sight  of  a  blue  shade  over  a  gas- 
light (sixteenth  day) ;  having  his  hand  and  arm  shaken 
playfully  (twenty-fifth  day).  The  last  named  experiment 
was  made  a  number  of  times  in  the  last  week  of  the  first 
month  and  invariably  called  forth  broad  smiles  and  a 
strongly  marked  expression  of  pleasure.  My  notes  on 
pleasure  producing  stimuli  for  the  second  month  all  relate 
to  the  effect  of  laughing  prattle  as  one  played  with  the 
child.  If  the  child  was  in  comfort  this  always  called 
forth  smiles  and  vocal  utterances  which  were  a  kind  of 
primitive  laugh. 

In  the  third  month,  R.'s  pleasure  in  looking  at  brightly 
colored  objects  became  more  pronounced.  Un  the  fifth 
day  of  the  month,  brightly  colored  tassels  dangled  over 
the  child  evoked  broad  smiles  and  wriggling,  the  latter 
being  a  forerunner  of  reaching  toward  and  graspfng.  On 
the  same  day,  the  swinging  motion  of  a  bcisket  in  which  he 
lay  caused  pleasure.  On  the  ninth  day,  the  bath  in  a  tub 
of  warm  water  was  distinctly  pleasing  in  its  effects.  On 
the  eleventh  day,  the  child  enjoyed  rubbing  his  hands 
over  a  fur  coat  which  was  laid  in  front  of  him  as  he  sat 
propped  up  in  his  crib.  As  in  the  preceding  month, 
lively  talk  and  prattle  called  forth  smiles. 

The  notes  for  ^^  fourth  month  make  it  clear  that  the 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION         79 

child's  manner  of  expressing  his  feelings  of  pleasure  had 
become  more  demonstrative  and  energetic.  Instead  of 
the  calm,  placid,  slightly  brighter  expression  of  the  first 
month  when  plied  with  pleasurable  stimuli,  we  now  have 
broad  smiles  and  crowing,  or  if  the  pleasure  is  strong, 
laughing  outright.  (The  first  real  laughing  sound  was 
heard  on  the  twenty-third  day  of  the  fourth  month.) 
The  arms  and  legs  are  beginning  to  play  a  prominent 
part  in  the  expression  of  pleasure.  Throwing  the  arms 
up  and  down  and  rapid  kicking  were  unmistakable  signs 
of  the  child's  pleasure  in  brightly  colored  objects.  Be- 
sides being  signs  "SSjoy  at  the  sight  of  objects,  it  seems 
likely  that  the  arnV  throwing  and  kicking  are  also  indic- 
ative of  a  desire  to  get  hold  of  the  objects.  They  were 
developments  from  the  slight  wriggling  motion  noted  in 
the  preceding  month,  and  were  soon  to  develop  into 
striking  towaroknd  fumbling  over  desired  objects,  as 
a  watch  or  colored  tassels  which  were  held  over  him 
for  his  entertajnment.  ^ 

By  the  middle  of  ^^  fourth  month,  grasping  had  been 
acquired  and  its  exercise  was  accompanied,  no  doubt,  by 
pleasure.  Paper  shaking  and  tearing  was  another  source 
of  pleasure  which  appeared  in  the  latter  half  of  the  month. 
Expressions  of  pleasu!'e  which  appeared  in  subsequent 

*  It  does  not  seem  fanciful  to  think  of  the  first  wriggling,  the  arm 
throwing  and  kicking,  the  striking  at,  and  finally  reaching  for  and  grasp- 
ing as  parts  of  the  same  developmental  process. 


8o  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

months  will  be  described  in  the  section  on  Play,  and  in 
later  paragraphs  of  this  section. 

Unpleasant  feelings.  —  Expressions  of  the  disagree  - 
able  or  painful  arise  (i)  whenever  the  sense-organs  are 
over-stimulated ;  when  the  stimulus  is  too  strong,  or  too 
prolonged ;  (2)  when  a  pleasant  sense-experience  is  in- 
terrupted ;  (3)  when  the  child's  instinctive  impulses  are 
crossed,  delayed  or  denied  free  movement,  as  when 
making  an  unsuccessful  effort  to  get  the  breast,  or 
when  it  escapes  from  his  mouth,  or  when  one  pulls 
as  if  to  take  away  from  the  child  an  object  —  one's 
finger,   e.  g.y   which    he    has    been    allowed    to   grasp. 

(4)  Painful  expressions  also  appear  in  the  presence 
of  unwonted,  or  strange  stimuli.  Habit  begins  very 
early  in  the  hfe  of  the  child  to  show  itself  as  a  source 
of  "  negative  pain  "  ;  that  is,  the  pain  arising  from  dis- 
turbing the  child's  daily  round  of  familiar  impressions. 

(5)  We  saw  above  that  some  stimuli  are  by  nature  dis- 
tinctly pleasing  to  the  infant.  It  is  found  also  that  cer- 
tain qualities  are  distinctly  unpleasant  or  painful.  Pungent 
odors,  bitter  tastes,  injury  of  parts  of  the  body  contain- 
ing nerve  fibers  are  unpleasant  and  often  painful. 

In  order  to  indicate  the  occasions  and  to  describe  the 
nature  of  the  unpleasant  or  painful  feeling  expressions 
of  the  first  month,  I  cannot  do  better  than  transcribe  my 
note-book  entries.  {First  day)  The  first  crying  was  the 
reflex  crying  just  after  birth.     Three  hours  later  when 


^ 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION         8 1 

given  a  thorough  washing  the  child  cried  so  hard  as  to 
alarm  all  but  the  nurse  who  had  learned  from  experience 
that  energetic  protests  are  to  be  expected  when  the  baby 
is  given  its  first  bath.  (^Second  day)  The  child  uttered  a 
fretful,  whimpering  cry  when  unable  to  seize  the  breast  or 
when  it  escaped  from  his  lips.  {Fourth  day)  A  well 
marked  grimace  appeared  when  the  child's  lips  were 
touched  with  a  spoon  containing  cold  water.  The  re- 
action may  have  been  due  either  to  the  coldness  or  to  the 
strangeness  of  the  new  touch.  {Fifth  day)  Handling, 
"  feeling "  or  holding  the  child's  hands  called  forth  a 
whimpering  cry  as  if  to  say,  "  let  my  hands  alone, 
please."  A  ludicrous  show  of  fretful  impatience  ap- 
peared when  one  allowed  the  child  to  grasp  one's  finger, 
then  pulled  as  if  to  take  it  away  from  him.  If  one  con- 
tinued to  pull  he  broke  out  crying.  {Sixth  day)  A 
grimace  not  unlike  that  of  the  fourth  day  appeared  when 
the  child  was  given  cool  water  from  a  spoon.  {Sixteenth 
day)  A  slight  surgical  operation  caused  violent  kicking 
and  screaming.  Eviden^-  the  child  suffered  great  pain. 
{Twenty-fourth  day)  The  child  was  startled  and  half 
frightened  when  given  his  first  tub-bath.  The  child 
shrank  from  the  water  as  It  was  poured  over  him,  but  did 
not  cry  out.  On  the  same  day  he  was  startled  by  loud 
whistling,  by  a  door's  slamming,  and  by  the  falling  of  a 
trunk-lid  in  an  adjoining  room.  {Twenty-seventh  day) 
The  child  was  easily  frightened  or  startled  by  sudden  or 


82  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL   GROWTH 

Strange  sounds  ;  and  a  very  slight  noise,  if  new  to  him, 
caused  the  face  to  "  pucker  "  as  if  to  break  forth  crying. 

Second  month.  —  One's  desire  to  ply  the  child  with  all 
sorts  of  stimuli  in  order  to  see  his  reactions  to  them  is 
checked  by  the  fear  of  doing  the  child  harm.  One 
shrinks  from  the  suggestion  to  try  the  effects  of  bitter 
tastes  or  pungent  odors  unless  they  fall  in  the  way  of  the 
dietary  or  medical  programs  laid  out  by  doctor  and  nurse. 
So  science  must  keep  a  lookout  for  the  incidental  results, 
the  by-products,  as  it  were,  of  the  regular  and  hygienic 
treatment  of  the  baby.  In  this  way,  was  obtained  the 
only  new  instance  of  pain  reaction  during  the  second 
month,  as  follows  :  —  a  bottle  containing  hniment  was  ac- 
cidentally held  too  near  the  child's  nose.  He  first  made  a 
wry  face  then  broke  out  crying.  Whether  the  pungency 
of  the  fluid  caused  pain,  or  whether  he  cried  because  he 
was  startled  one  cannot  be  sure  ;  but  that  it  was  disagree- 
able there  could  be  little  doubt,  and  that  is  the  significant 
thing  in  this  connection. 

In  the  third  month,  only  two  instances  of  displeasure 
were  noted :  once  when  the  child  was  taken  away  from  a 
window  from  which  he  had  been  watching  moving  ob- 
jects, and  a  second  when  a  tin  cup,  held  near  him,  was 
rapped  rather  sharply. 

The  only  notes  I  have  on  expressions  of  displeasure  in 
the  fourth  month  relate  to  the  child's  impatience  when 
unable  to  reach  a  desired  object,  or  when  he  was  not  al- 


THE  FEELINGS   AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION         83 

lowed  to  handle  certain  articles.  Thus  on  the  sixth  day 
of  the  month  he  was  distinctly  displeased  when  a  toy 
which  he  was  holding  and  fumbUng  was  taken  from  him. 
On  the  twentieth  day,  his  inability  to  reach  a  watch  and 
a  cluster  of  tassels  which  were  held  over  him  called 
forth  a  fretful  cry.  Again,  marked  signs  of  displeasure 
appeared  when,  oiv.  the  twenty-third  day,  a  lot  of  paper 
which  he  had  been  shaking  and  crumbling  was  taken 
away  from  him.  Similar  fretful  cries  of  disappointment 
arose  when  a  sheet  of  paper  with  which  he  was  playing 
fell  out  of  his  crib  and  beyond  his  reach.  Other  and 
later  instances  of  unpleasant  feelings  will  be  noted  in  the 
paragraphs  dealing  with  Fear  and  Anger. 

(b)     emotions 

Having  in  the  preceding  paragraphs  described  some  of 
the  early  forms  of  pleasure  and  pain  and  their  expres- 
sion, we  may  proceed  to  the  consideration  of  some  of 
the  simpler  forms  of  emotion,  particularly  fear  and 
anger. 

FEAR 

Fear  may  be  defined  as  the  emotive  reaction  which 
accompanies  ideas  of  harm  or  danger.  Genuine  fear  is 
marked  off  from  surprise,  and  mere  physical  or  nerve 
shock  by  the  fact  that  it  involves  a  sense  of  danger,  an 
image    of  possible    harm    not    present    in   the   sudden 


^ 


84  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

physical  shock  or  surprise,  and  also  by  its  longer  dura- 
tion. Each  particular  experience  of  fear  differs,  no  doubt, 
from  every  other  in  intensity  of  commotion,  in  the  de- 
gree of  disturbance,  and  in  the  number  of  somatic  and 
mental  factors  involved.  The  reactions  when  in  the  pres- 
ence of  imaginary  supernatural  forces,  when  one  is  ex- 
posed to  a  violent  storm,  the  fear  of  being  slain  in  battle, 
fear  of  a  ferocious  beast,  of  falling  from  high  places,  the 
disquiet  one  experiences  in  a  dark  wood  or  cave  —  all 
differ  somewhat ;  but  in  every  case  it  is  possible  to  enu- 
merate factors  common  to  all,  such  as  disturbance  of  the 
respiratory,  circulatory,  and  certain  glandular  functions, 
the  tremor  of  certain  muscles,  the  skin  pallor,  the  full 
throat,  and  so  forth. 

It  is  extremely  doubtful  whether  infants  experience 
true,  or  genuine  fear  as  described  in  the  preceding  para- 
graph, during  the  first  year.  In  its  earliest  form  the  fear 
reaction,  in  its  motor  aspect,  cannot  be  distinguished 
from  the  mechanical,  reflex  starting  in  response  to  loud 
or  sudden  stimuH.  Concerning^the  "  feeling  "  side  of  fear 
during  the  first  year,  we  know  nothing,  and  can  only  say 
that  if  it  is  present  at  aU  it  is  not  distinguishable  from  the 
mass  of  general  unpleasantness  the  child  seems  to  suffer 
in  the  early  months.  But  the  well-known  tendency  of 
grown  persons  to  confuse  their  own  standpoint  with  that 
of  the  child,  to  read  their  own  experience  into  the  ex- 
pressions of  little  children,  often  leads  them  into  the  error  , 


xd. 


THE  FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION         85 

of  attributing  feelings  and  emotions  to  children  which 
they  do  not  in  the  slightest  degree  experience.  And  ob- 
servers are  particularly  liable  to  make  this  error  with 
respect  to  fear  because  of  the  striking  similarity  between 
the  genuine  fear  reaction  and  the  merely  organic  response 
to  nerve  shocking  stimuH.  And  yet  reflection  will  make 
plain  that  if  fear  involves  a  definite  idea  of  possible  evil 
or  danger  (as  true  fear  doubtless  does)  then  it  is  clear 
that  the  babe  of  three  or' four  months  cannot  experience 
fear  for  the^  reason  that  he  cannot  have  the  necessary 
definite  ideas  of  danger.  Very  many  of  the  expressions 
and  responses  <j5ihich  are  often  supposed  to  have  emo- 
tional value  are  only  jnstinctiye  and  organic  responses 
tcr-disturbing  stimuli,  and  have  little  emotional  value 
from  the  child's  standpoint;  they  mean  little  to  him, 
they  do  not  express  for  him  a  definite  conscious  content 
or  process.  The  apparent  emotional  response  is  mainly 
an  organic  reaction,  along  the  line  of  least  resistance. 

King  has  developed  the  unstable-nervous-system-least- 
resistance  theory  of  the  early  fear  expression,  as  follows  :  ^ 
'*  The  child  has  inherited  a  small  number  of  motor  coor- 
dinations, of  an  instinctive  type,  and  in  these  the  ten- 
sions resulting  from  any  unwonted  or  strong  stimulus  are 
apt  to  find  easiest  relief."  What  the  particular  form  of 
the  reaction  to  an  exciting  stimulus  shall  be  is  a  matter 

1  Op.  cit,,  Chap.  IV. 


86  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

of  indifference  and  of  guesswork  so  far  as  prediction  is 
concerned.  But  other  things  equal,  the  reaction  to  un- 
wonted stimuli  "  would  tend  to  occur  through  the  motor 
channels  offering  the  least  resistance  ;  that  is,  through  the 
ones  traveled  oftenest."  Whether  the  baby  will  respond 
with  smiles  and  laughter  or  with  a  fit  of  crying  to  a  given 
stimulus  cannot  be  predicted  beforehand,  and  the  same 
stimulus  may  call  forth  directly  opposite  reactions  on  two 
different  occasions. 

According  to  this  theory,  a  nervous,  sensitive  child,  a 
child  whose  n'ervous  system  is  in  a  state  of  unstable 
equilibrium,  a  child  who  has  suffered  much  physical  pain 
is  more  likely  to  show  fear  than  a  child  having  a  sluggish 
nervous  organization,  or  one  whose  nerves  have  never 
been  racked  by  pain.  All  observers  of  children  will 
agree  that  the  facts  are  in  harmony  with  the  theory.  A 
child  who  has  suffered  much  is  hkely  to  be  timid  and  fear- 
ful until  he  is  fully  restored  to  rugged  health  ;  he  is  more 
likely  to  be  disturbed  by  situations  and  experiences  which 
are  viewed  with  calmness  and  unconcern,  or  even  passed 
by  unnoticed,  by  his  healthier  or  more  phlegmatic  play- 
mate. And  adults  know  very  well  that,  as  a  rule,  phys- 
ical and  moral  courage  rise  with  physical  comfort  and 
well-being  and  fall  with  physical  pain  and  discomfort,  if 
prolonged. 

There  are  two  general  causes  of  the  fear-reaction  in 
little  children:    fii^t,  strange   and    powerful    sense-im- 


THE  FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION         87 

pressions  which,  as  a  rule,  act  as  a  shock  or  jar  to  the 
unstable  nervous  system,  and  which  at  times  also  arouse 
a  vague  apprehension  of  danger  which  shades  impercep- 
tibly into  definite  ideas  of  possible  harm  giving  rise  to 
fear  proper.  The  ideas  may  be  the  result  of  individual  ex- 
perience or  may  be  learned  from  others.  A  third  general 
cause  of  fear  has  beea-^advanced  by  a  number  of  writers,^ 
namely,  heredity.  Biologists  and  psychologists  working 
under  the  inspiration  of  a  certain  form  of  the  evolutionary 
doctrine  have  maintained  that  children  inherit  definite 
tendencies  to  fear  certain  things,  such  as  strange  animals, 
the  dark,  black  things  and  dark  places,  falling  from  high 
places,  the  supernatural  and  so  forth.  But  more  careful 
observation  and  reflection  cast  grave  doubts  on  the  sound- 
ness of  the  hereditary  fear  theory,  particularly  the  theory 
that  children  inherit  fears  of  definite  things.  And  mainly 
for  the  reason  that  children  simply  do  not  fear  the  things 
the  theory  requires,  and  they  do  fear  things  for  which 
there  is  no  possible  explanation  or  justification  from  the 
standpoint  of  those  who  hold  to  the  hereditary  origin  of 
fears.  Moreover,  all  children  do  not  fear  the  same  things  ; 
things  which  frighten  one  child  often  give  another  the 
greatest  pleasure.  To  many  children  —  perhaps  the  great 
majority  —  a  thunder- and  rain-storm  is  fearful,  but  we 
remember  that  the  boy  Walter  Scott  was  found  during  a 

»  Notably  Dr.  G.  S.  Hall.     See  his  study  of  Fear,  Amer.  Jour,  of  Psy- 
chol.f  Vol.  VIII,  pp.  147-249,  particularly  the  latter  part. 


88  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

thunder-storm  lying  on  a  knoll  taking  the  greatest  de- 
light in  the  lightning  play ;  ^  and  Preyer  says  that  his  boy 
"  laughed  at  the  thunder  and  lightning  "  (in  the  eighteenth 
and  nineteenth  months) ;  and  that  "  another  child  even  in 
the  thirty-fifth  month  did  the  same,  and  imitated  cleverly 
with  the  hand  the  zigzag  movement  of  the  lightning." 
Still  further,  it  is  well  known  that  the  same  child  will 
react  differently  to  the  same  stimulus  on  two  different 
days,  or  even  at  two  different  hours  of  the  same  day. 
There  is  in  fact  no  fixed  uniformity  of  response  to  fear 
producing  situations  either  among  children  as  a  class  or 
among  individual  children.  If  instinct  or  heredity  is  to 
be  brought  in  to  explain  fear  reactions  it  will  have  to  be 
stated  in  much  more  general  terms  so  as  to  explain  the 
fear  of  vastly  wider  groups  of  phenomena  than  hghtning, 
furry  animals  (see  page  1 14),  the  dark,  persons  dressed  in 
black,  and  the  like.  It  seems  more  probab'le,  as  Sully 
and  others  have  suggested,  that  since  the  Httle  child's  un- 
stable nervous  system  is  easily  disturbed  by  powerful 
or  novel  stimuli,  most  of  the  so-called  fears  of  the  first 
year  or  two  can  be  accounted  for  by  reference  to  the 
suddenness,  strangeness,  or  volume  of  the  sight  and 
sound  impressions  which  reach  the  child. 

(a)      SOUND   FEARS 

Observers  of  infancy  agree  that  among  the  earliest  fear 

» Quoted  by  Sully,  Studies,  p.  196. 


THE  FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION        89 

reactions  are  those  caused  by  loud  and  sudden  noises, 
such  as  are  made  by  the  banging  of  doors,  the  falling  of 
articles  of  furniture,  or  by  striking  a  bell  a  sharp  blow. 
Miss  Shinn  states  that  her  niece  had  her  first  fright  in 
the  fifth  week,  "  when  her  tin  bath  was  brought  in  and 
set  down  rather  roughly  so  that  the  handles  clashed  on 
the  sides."  ^  The  reaction  was  a  violent  start,  a  sharp  cry, 
and  "  the  regular  crying  grimace."  Considerably  earlier, 
nineteenth  day,  R.  was  frightened,  so  it  seemed,  by  ring- 
ing a  small  breakfast  bell  near  him  as  he  lay  nursing. 
At  first  he  stopped  sucking,  held  his  breath  for  a 
moment,  then  broke  out  crying.  Again  on  the  twenty- 
fifth  and  twenty-sixth  days,  whistling  brought  a  pucker 
or  grimace,  as  if  about  to  begin  crying.  In  these  cases 
we  have  to  do  not  with  the  emotion  of  fear,  strictly 
speaking,  but,  as  Sully  observes  "  with  an  organic 
phenomenon,  with  a  sort  of  jar  to  the  nervous  system." 

"To  understand  this,"  Sully  continues,  ''we  have  to  re- 
member that  the  ear  in  the  case  of  man  at  least,  is  the  sense- 
organ  through  which  the  nervous  system  is  most  powerfully 
and  profoundly  acted  on.  Sounds  seem  to  go  through  us,  to 
pierce  us,  to  shake  us,  to  pound  and  crush  us.  A  child  of 
four  months  or  sTx  months  has  a  nervous  organization  still 
weak  and  unstable,  and  we  should  naturally  expect  loud 
sounds  to  produce  a  disturbing  effect  on  it."  " 


1  Biography  of  a  Baby,  p.  81 
'  Studies  of  Childhood^  p.  197. 


90  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

These  first  fear  reactions  then  are  of  the  nature  of  re- 
flexes and  so  may  be  regarded  as  the  forerunners  of 
true  fear.  They  are  classed  as  fear  reactions  because 
they  resemble  so  closely  the  true  fear  response  which  ap- 
pears somewhat  later. 

We  have  just  seen  that  the  loudness  and  the  sudden- 
ness of  sounds  make  them  startling  to  little  children  ;  we 
have  now  to  note  that  somewhat  later  strangeness  be- 
comes even  more  disconcerting  than  loudness  and  sud- 
I  /      denness.     Darwin  ^  relates  that, 

"Before  the  present  one  (child)  was  four  and  a  half  months 
old  I  had  been  accustomed  to  make  close  to  him  many  strange 
and  loud  noises,  which  were  ah  taken  as  excellent  jokes.  But 
at  this  period  I  one  day  made  a  loud  snoring  noise  which  I  had 
never  done  before :  he  instantly  looked  grave,  then  burst  out 
crying.  Two  or  three  days  afterward  I  made  through  forget- 
fulness  the  same  noise  with  the  same  result." 

A  similar  example  of  the  disconcerting  effect  of  a 
strange  noise  is  given  by  Preyer,  as  follows  : 

"  In  the  sixteenth  month  my  child  was  afraid  (to  my  surprise 
for  I  thought  to  please  him),  when  Ldjew  tones  of  high  pitch 
from  a  drinking  glass  by  rubfeing  with  the  finger,  as  I  had  done 
once  at  an  earlier  period.  His  fear  which  did  not  at  that 
time  —  in  the  third  month  —  appear,  ncm  increased  to  the  point 
of  shedding  tears,  whereas  the  ring  of  the  glasses  when  struck 
was  greeted  with  joy." 

J  Mindf  Vol.  II,  p.  288  (1877)  '»  ^^^o  Fop.  Set.  Mo.,  June,  1900  (reprint). 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION       9 1 

On  the  sixty-eighth  day,  R.  was  frightened  by  the  strange 
sound  made  by  gently  tapping  on  a  tin  cup ;  and  even  as 
early  as  the  last  week  of  the  first  month  strangeness 
seemed  to  be  a  factor  of  fear-producing  sounds.  As  was 
indicated  above,  strangeness  alone  did  not  cause  fear  until 
the  child  had  almost  ceased  being  frightened  by  the  mere 
loudness  and  suddenness  of  sounds.  But  fear  of  strange 
sounds  involves  a  mental  factor  as  well  as  the  physical 
one  of  shock  or  nervous  -jafT  Thus  in  the  last  week  of 
the  sixth  month,  R.  had  a  great  fright  at  the  sound  of  a 
lawn  mower.  At  the  first  souiTd  of  the  machine  he  made 
up  a  face  to  cry;  the  machine  was  stopped  and  the 
grimace  faded ;  but  when  the  moA^ing  was  resumed  he 
burst  out  crying  and  had  to  be  carried  away  before  he 
could  be  quieted.  In  the  twenty-fifth  week,  I  tried  the 
effect  of  gruff  speaking  to  him  as  he  lay  in  his  crib,  but 
there  was  no  fear.^  The  response  was  similar  to  that 
made  to  many  strange  noises,  but  it  did  not  show  fear  — 
rather  half  surprise  or  wonder.^  In  the  same  week 
(twenty-fifth)  the  child  was  taken  to  a  Union  railway 
station  where  he  met  a  great  many  new  sights  and  sounds 

*  At  the  same  time,  and  on  a  number  of  days  in  the  course  of  the  next 
month,  I  leaned  over  the  child  and  made  a  scowling  face  to  see  if  it 
would  cause  fear  or  any  change  of  expression.  The  results  lead  me  to 
think  with  James  that,  "  It  seems  very  doubtful  whether  young  infants 
have  any  instincti'^e  fear  of  a  terrible  or  scowling  face.  I  have  been  un- 
able to  make  my  own  children,  under  a  year  old,  change  their  expression 
when  I  changed*  mine ;  at  most  they  manifested  attention  or  curiosity  " 
{Principles  of  Psychology ^  Vol.  II,  p.  404). 


92  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

where  the  great  din  and  clatter  of  moving  trains,  ringing 
bells  and  whistles  might  well  be  expected  to  throw  a  baby 
into  a  panic.  But  the  whole  situation  produced  only 
wide  open  eyes,  turning  the  head  hither  and  thither,  and 
a  general  expression  of  great  interest  or  wonder.  Only 
once,  and  then  when  too  near  a  hissing  engine,  did  the 
child  show  signs  of  fear  or  alarm.  On  two  different  days 
in  the  last  week  of  the  tenth  month  the  child  was  allowed 
to  sit  in  his  carriage  within  thirty  feet  of  a  railway  track 
as  swiftly  moving  trains  passed.  On  both  occasions  the 
child's  expression  was  that  of  being  interested,  but  not  a 
particle  of  fear  or  alarm  appeared.  The  shrill  whistle  of 
the  engine  as  it  approached  the  crossing 'caused  the  child 
to  start  and  look  frightened  for  a  moment,  but  he  did  not 
associate  the  sound  of  the  whistle  with  the  engine  and  he 
was  instantly  lost  in  wonder  at  the  sight  of  the  approach- 
ing train.  ^ 

Volume,  or  bigness,  of  sounds  is  mentioned  by  a  num- 
ber of  writers  as  a  quality  which  tends  to  make  them 
fearful.  Adults  as  well  as  children  often  feel  a  vague 
alarm  or  uneasiness  at  the  roar  of  a  storm,  the  firing  of 
heavy  artillery,  the  noise  of  a  big  factory,  the  din  of  a 
city  street,  the  noise  of  great  volumes  of  water  rushing 
over  a  precipice,  as  at  Niagara,  mainly  because  of  the 
overwhelming  nature  of  the  sounds  produced.     In  these 

*  Sound  as  one  factor  in  making  a  thunder-  or  rain-storm  fearful  will  be 
referred  to  in  a  later  paragraph. 


THE  FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION       93 

cases  the  immediate  effect  is  physical  rather  than  mental, 
the  very  bigness  of  the  noise  pounds,  overwhelms,  crushes 
one,  producing  a  "  panicky  "  feehng  although  one  may  be 
well  aware  all  the  while  that  the  feeling  is  groundless. 

Sully  and  Preyer  think  it  likely  that  unexpected 
sounds,  or  sounds  of  unknown  or  mysterious  origin  are 
likely  to  produce  fear  or  vague  alarm  and  apprehension. 
"  There  is  something  uncanny  to  the  child,"  so  Sully  be- 
lieves, **  in  the  very  production  of  sound  from  a  silent 
thing.  A  banjo  lying  now  inert,  harmless  and  then  sud- 
denly firing  off  a  whole  gamut  of  sound  may  well  shock 
a  small  child's  preconception  of  things."  ^  There  seemed 
to  be  a  slight  degree  of  alarm  at  the  mysterious  and  un- 
expected in  the  fear  which  Champneys'  boy  showed  of  an 
unusual  sound  in  his  room.  "  The  first  symptom  of  fear," 
says  Champneys,  "  was  noticed  at  about  nine  months.  It 
was  excited  by  an  unusual  sound  in  the  room,  but 
not  in  the  child's  immediate  neighborhood ;  he  opened 
his  eyes  very  wide  and  burst  out  crying."  ^  So  also  the 
Champneys  child's  fear  (tenth  month)  of  a  toy  which 
squeaked  when  pressed  was  due  in  part  to  the  unexpected 
and  mysterious  nature  of  the  sound  produced.  The  child 
burst  out  crying  at  the  squeak  of  the  toy  and  cried  when- 
ever it  was  offered  to  him,  but  in  a  short  time  he  got 
used  to  it  and  enjoyed  making  it  squeak  himself.     In  R.'s 

*  Studies,  p.  196.  y 

^Mind,  Vol.  VI,  p.  106.  \/ 


94  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

third  year,  the  latter  part,  he  often  stopped  suddenly  at 
the  sound  of  a  strange  noise,  looked  startled,  eyes  wide 
open,  and  asked  quickly, "  fat-iss-noise  ?  "  i.e.^  what  is  the 
noise?  His  expression  was  mainly  one  of  interest  or 
curiosity,  though  there  were  on  a  few  occasions  signs  of 
vague  alarm  as  at  the  sound  of  blasting  rock  in  a  quarry 
not  far  distant  and  at  the  screaming  of  fighting  cats. 

(b)      FEAR   OF   VISIBLE   THINGS 

We  have  seen  that  the  first  fear  responses  are  reflex 
and  not  to  be  distinguished  from  the  response  to  a  physical 
shock  or  jar.  It  was  said  also  that  the  earliest  fear- 
reactions  are  produced  by  sounds,  that  the  fear  express- 
ing apparatus  is  first  set  in  motion  by  auditory  stimuli. 
Not  only  are  the  earliest  fears  produced  by  sounds,  but 
sound  is  the  most  fertile  source  of  fears  in  adults  as  well 
as  in  children.  The  explanation  seems  to  be,  in  part, 
that,  in  every  day  affairs,  sound  waves  more  frequently 
produce  physical  commotion  than  does  any  other  class 
of  stimuli,  light  waves  for  example. 

In  order  to  explain  the  earliest  manifestations  of  fear 
excited  by  visual  sensations  we  have  to  call  in  our  old 
categories  of  novelty,  surprise,  intensity.  The  things 
seen  which  cause  fear  have  one  or  more  of  these  qualities. 
Miss  Shinn  states  that  her  niece  experienced  her  first 
visual  fear  in  the  fourth  month,  when  "  a  caller  was 
present,  dressed  in  black  "  which  to  the  child  was  an  un- 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION        95 

usual  sight.  When  R.  was  thirty-three  days  old  I  made 
the  experiment  of  leaning  over  him  in  a  dim  light  when 
he  could  not  see  what  or  who  I  was.  At  once  his  face 
assumed  an  expression  of  apprehension  or  alarm,  breath- 
ing was  partially  suspended,  but  the  fright  was  not  great 
enough  to  cause  crying.  Darwin  tells  of  a  similar  ex- 
periment with  his  child  when  he  was  about  four  and  a 
half  months  old:  "  I  approached  with  my  back  toward 
him  and  stood  motionless :  he  looked  very  grave  and 
much  surprised  and  would  soon  have  cried  had  I  not 
turned  around."  ^ 

Powerful  visual  impressions  like  the  vastness  of  the 
sea,  or  a  great  conflagration,  or  a  great  dust  or  snow- 
storm produce  feelings  of  apprehension  closely  akin  to 
fear.  Thus  Preyer's  child  in  his  twenty-first  month, 
"  showed  every  sign  of  fear  when  his  nurse  carried  him 
on  her  arm  close  by  the  sea.  He  began  to  whimper," 
Preyer  continues,  "  and  I  saw  that  he  clung  tighter  with 
both  hands,  even  during  a  calm  and  an  ebb-tide  when 
there  was  but  a  slight  dashing  of  the  waves."  ^  Sully's 
correspondents  sent  him  a  number  of  cases  of  what 
seemed  instinctive  dread  of  the  sea.  Others  reported 
cases  of  imaginative  children  in  whom  the  vastness  of  the 
sea  awakened  apprehension  and  alarm. 

We  saw  above  that  habit  comes  very  early  to  be  a 

»  Mind,  Vol.  II,  p.  288. 

8  Preyer,  Op.  cit..  Vol.  I,  p.  170.       , 


96  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

negative  cause  of  unpleasant  feelings  ;  that  is,  that  changes 
in  the  child's  surroundings,  associates,  personal  habits  are 
likely  to  be  displeasing.  The  principle  has  a  variety  of 
illustrations  in  the  early  fears  of  children,  and  is  sufficient 
to  explain  most  of  the  early  sight-fears.  Examples  of 
fears  which  may  be  explained  by  reference  to  this  princi- 
ple are :  (i)  Change  of  place  ;  a  child  long  accustomed  to 
a  given  room  or  set  of  rooms  is  likely  to  feel  uncom- 
fortable or  ill  at  ease  on  being  taken  to  a  new  room  en- 
tirely unlike  the  old  one  in  its  appearance  and  furnishings, 
though  some  children  are  interested  and  pleased  by  the 
new  surroundings.  Sully  tells  of  a  little  girl  who  at  the 
age  of  four  months  when  taken  into  a  new  nursery, 
"  looked  all  around  and  then  burst  out  crying  "  ;  and  of 
another  child  that  *'  retained  up  to  the  age  of  three  years, 
eight  months  the  fear  of  being  left  alone  in  strange  hotels 
or  lodgings."  Perhaps  this  is  like,  in  some  respects,  the 
disquieting  effect  of  the  busy  city  thoroughfare  upon  one 
accustomed  to  the  quiet  of  the  country. 

(2)  Change  of  apparel  either  of  his  own  or  of  others 
often  causes  a  dislike  having  some  of  the  elements  of 
fear.  Sully  says  that  C,  "  when  an  infant  was  distressed 
to  tears  at  the  spectacle  of  a  new  color  and  a  new  pattern 
on  his  mother's  dress."  The  child  R.  in  the  twenty-fourth 
month  ran  to  his  mother  and  hid  his  face  in  the  folds  of 
her  dress  when  I  appeared  one  day  wearing  a  strange 
hat.     Other  observers    report   that   children   sometimes 


THE   FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION        97 

show  fear  at  too  marked  changes  in  their  own  apparel, 
but  I  have  never  noticed  it  in  my  two  children. 

FEAR   OF   ANIMALS 

"  How  happens  it,"  asked  Preyer,  *'  that  many  children 
are  afraid  of  dogs,  pigs  and  cats,  before  they  know  the 
dangerous  qualities  of  those  animals  ?  "  Fear  of  perfectly 
friendly  and  harmless  animals,  cats,  dogs,  horses,  pigs,  ap- 
pears at  some  time  or  other  in  nearly  all  children.  The 
origin  of  these  fears  has  been  variously  explained.  Preyer, 
Darwin,  Hall,  James,  and  others  believe  them  to  be  instinc- 
tive. Hall,  for  example,  says  of  animal  fears,"  More  than 
any  others,  these  fears  seem  like  lapsed  reflexes,  fragments 
and  relics  of  psychic  states  and  acts  which  are  now  rarely 
seen  in  all  their  former  vigor."  ^  James  cites  a  case  which 
tells  strongly  for  the  instinctive  fear  theory. 

"  One  of  my  children,"  he  writes,  "  from  her  birth  upward 
saw  daily  the'pet  pug-dog  of  the  house,  and  never  betrayed  the 
slightest  fear  until  she  was  (if  I  recollect  rightly)  about  eight 
months  old.  Then  the  instinct  suddenly  seemed  to  develop, 
and  with  such  intensity  that  familiarity  had  no  mitigating 
effect.  She  screamed  whenever  the  dog  entered  the  room,  and 
for  many  months  remained  afraid  to  touch  him."  ' 


»  Amer  Jour,  of  Psychol.,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  210. 

2  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  II,  p.  4i7f.  Is  it  not  entirely  possible 
that  Professor  James'  child  received  the  fear  suggestion  from  some  member 
of  the  household,  or  that  she  suddenly  saw  the  pug  in  a  different  way, 
some  act  on  his  part,  wriggling,  frisking,  his  teeth  —  any  one  of  a  number 


98  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

Others  believe  that  most,  perhaps  all,  animal  fears  arise 
in  the  first  instance  either  because  of  the  strangeness  of 
the  animals,  or  because  the  fear  is  suggested  by  the  speech 
or  actions  of  the  child's  companions.  In  the  first  case, 
animals  are  looked  upon  as  intruders,  they  disturb  the 
order  of  things  to  which  the  child  is  habituated,  or  if  the 
animal  jumps  about,  frisks,  or  utters  cries  of  any  sort  it  be- 
comes still  more  fearful.  My  own  observations  lead  me 
to  think  that  instinct,  or  heredity,  plays  a  very  small  part 
in  causing  children  to*  fear  particular  animals,  and  that 
animal  fears  are  due  chiefly  to  strangeness  or  to  sugges- 
tion, from  somg  s.ource^  of  possible  harm. 

Fear  of  cats,  —  Many  stories  are  told  to  show  how 
fear  and  cudosity,  or  interest,  tend  to  combine  in  the 
attitudes  of  animals  and  little  children  toward  various 
objects.  Darwin  gives  an  excellent  example  showing 
how  the  contrary  impulses  of  curiosity  and  timidity  affect 
their  possessors.  Having  read  Brehm's  account  of  his 
experiments  showing  that  monkeys  have  an  instinctive 
fear  of  snakes,  Darwin,  who  was  much  surprised  by 
Brehm's  account,  repeated  the  experiments,  making  a 
number  of  variations,  one  of  which  was  as  follows  :  "  I 
then  placed  a  live  snake  in  a  paper  bag,  with  the  mouth 
loosely  closed,  in  one  of  the  larger  compartments  (of  the 

of  new  things  may  have  been  the  disturbing  factor.  This,  to  me,  seems 
simpler  and  more  plausible  than  to  refer  it  to  a  suddenly  awakening  in- 
stinctive fear  of  dogs. 


THE  FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION        99 

monkey  house).  One  of  the  monkeys  immediately  ap- 
proached, cautiously  opened  the  bag  a  little,  peeped  in, 
and  instantly  dashed  away.  Then  I  witnessed  what 
Brehm  has  described,  for  monkey  after  monkey,  with 
head  raised  high  and  turned  on  one  side,  could  not  resist 
taking  momentary  peeps  into  the  upright  bag,  at  the 
dreadful  object  lying  quiet  at  the  bottom."  ^ 

The  child  R.  on  a  number  of  occasions  showed  a  mix- 
ture of  fear  and  curiosity  very  like  that  of  the  monkeys' 
described  by  Darwin.  Once  (in  his  sixteenth  month)  an 
unusually  good-natured  and  well-behaved  cat  came  into 
the  room  where  R.  was  playing.  At  first,  t^e  child  ran 
away,  making  a  fretful  cry.  But  he  was  eager  to  be 
where  he  could  see  the  cat,  peering  from  behind  chairs 
and  tables,  and  finally,  after  much  coaxing,  cautiously 
touched  the  cat's  ears  and  nose  with  the  tip  of  his  finger. 
But  at  the  end  of  three  days,  during  which  he  frequently 
saw  the  cat,  the  child  still  was  afraid  to  have  the  cat  come 
near  him,  and  would  fret  and  toddle  away  every  time  it 
did  so.  But  if  he  could  look  at  the  animal  at  a  safe  dis- 
tance nothing  in  his  new  environment  was  half  so  inter- 
esting. 

So  far  as  I  know  the  child  did  not  see  another  cat  for 
more  than  four  months.  One  day  (last  week  of  the 
twentieth  month)  the  child  sighted  a  kitten  two-thirds 

» Descent  of  Man,  Vol.  I,  p.  42  (Appleton  Edition,  1871). 


lOO  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

grown  while  we  were  out  for  a  walk.  At  first  he  was 
greatly  interested  in  the  animal,  and  kept  saying,  "  tat, 
tat,"  and  was  content  to  look  at  the  kitten  so  long  as  we 
kept  at  the  safe  distance  of  about  fifteen  feet ;  but  when 
I  started  to  lead  him  nearer  he  began  to  tremble  and  cry, 
partially  squatting  and  crying,  "  tat,  tat,"  anxiously  and 
fearfully.  When  the  kitten,  which  evidently  was  a  house 
pet,  made  a  step  toward  us  he  burst  out  crying  and 
tried  to  hide  his  face  between  my  legs.  The  fear  was 
tfiost  acute,  almost  terror — and  I  picked  him  up  and 
carried  him  in  order  to  quiet  him.  When  I  let  him 
down,  he  k<^;pt  looking  back  anxiously  and  saying,  "  tat," 
as  we  walked  along  for  a  distance  of  three  hundred  feet. 
Two  days  later  the  interesting  note  was  made  that  while 
the  child  was  much  afraid  of  real  cats,  he  had  not  the 
slightest  fear  of  the  pictures  of  cats,  or  even  of  a  large 
picture  of  a  lion's  head  which  he  called,  "  tat."  On  an- 
other occasion,  second  week  of  twenty-first  month,  he 
spied  ^  cat  at  a  distance  of  about  five  rods  coming  toward 
him/  He  began  to  cry  "  tat,"  and  toddled  away  as  fast 
as  ]ie  could.  It  was  noted  that  a  cat  walking  at  a  dis- 
tance~~of  five  rods  caused  more  anxiety  than  one  at  rest 
only^  few  feet  away. 

On"lhe  fifteenth  day  of  the  twenty-third  month  he 
would  cry  and  tremble  when  a  certain  black  pussy  which 
had  taken  up  her  abode  with  the  family,  went  near  him. 
Nine  days  later,  I  was  much  surprised  to  find  him  stand- 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION       lOI 

ing  beside  the  once  dreaded  creature  as  she  lay  on  a 
chair,  patting  her  and  looking  in  her  eyes  and  saying, 
"  tee-tee "  (kittie),  in  a  tone  that  showed  that  fear  had 
entirely  disappeared.  He  had  grown  used  to  the  cat 
being  about  the  house,  and  playing  with  her  easily  fol- 
lowed. On  the  same  day  he  enjoyed  holding  in  his 
hands  a  two  weeks'  old  kitten.  From  this  time  on  the 
child  would  follow  the  cat  about  the  house,  addressing 
her  much  as  he  would  a  person,  looking  into  her  face  and 
directing  and  coaxing  her  to  go  here  and  there,  to  get  up 
on  the  chair  or  down  from  a  desk  or  to  follow  him  to  an- 
other room.  This  was  the  last  of  downright  fear  of  cats, 
although  strange  cats  were  nearly  always  viewed  at  first 
with  suspicion  and  half  alarm. 

Fear  of  dogs. —  The  child  R.'s  first  close  view  of  a  dog 
was  in  the  last  week  of  the  first  year.  A  black  cocker- 
spaniel  came  frisking  into  the  room  and  close  to  the 
person  who  was  holding  the  child  in  her  lap.  The  child 
looked  very  sober  and  shrank  from  the  dog  as  he  came 
near.  (Should  this  be  called  instinctive  fear  of  dogs,  as 
such,  or  merely  fear  of  a  strange  and  demonstrative  ob- 
ject ?  The  latter,  it  seems  to  me.)  About  the  middle  of 
the  fifteenth  month  he  showed  fear  of  an  unusually  playful 
two  months'  old  fox-terrier.  So  long  as  the  pup  kept 
away  from  him  he  was  pleased  at  the  sight  of  him,  but 
when  the  pup  came  too  near,  and  particularly  when  he 
gave  the  child's  face  a  friendly  lick  the  child  shrank  away 


I02  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

and  whimpered  despite  our  best  efforts  to  assure  him  of 
the  pup's  friendliness. 

The  child's  actions  (nineteenth  and  twentieth  months) 
toward  strange  but  friendly  dogs  furnished  a  number  of 
good  illustrations  of  the  working  of  contrary  impulses. 
He  would  follow  the  animals  about  the  lawn  or  house 
with  the  greatest  interest  and  cries  of  delight,  but  would 
cry  and  tremble  if  they  turned  and  came  near  him. 
Sometimes,  when  we  patted  the  dog  and  tried  to  get  the 
child  to  do  the  same,  he  would  venture  so  far  as  to  touch 
the  dog  with  the  tip  of  the  finger ;  but  more  often  he 
shook  his  head  fretfully  and  shrank  away  at  the  sugges- 
tion. (It  was  noted  that  while  real  dogs  were  feared 
pictures  of  dogs  were  liked  invariably.)  Frequent  seeing 
did  not  seem  to  quiet  his  fear  of  a  particular  dog.  All 
through  his  twenty-fourth  month  he  saw  a  certain  Irish 
setter  every  day,  and  was  always  pleased  to  watch  thr 
dog  from  a  distance,  but  always  cried  and  trembled  when 
the  dog  came  near  him.  The  record  for  the  third  yea» 
shows  that  at  the"  end  of  the  year  the  child  liked  to  watch 
dogs  but  invariably  trembled  and  cried  when  they  came 
near  him,  /  running  away  saying  "  hut  hut  wow-wow," 
i.  e.y  the  wow-wow  will  hurt.  ...  A  little  child's 
fear  of  dogs  is  due  in  part,  I  have  no  doubt,  to  the  fact 
that  dogs  look  very  big  to  the  child.  Arnimals  which  look 
very  small  to  us  often  looJcIike  mammoths  to  the  baby 
and  that  fact  alone  is  enough  to  cause  apprehension. 


THE  FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION       I03 

Fear  of  insects.  —  That  size  is  not  the  only  factor  in 
making  animals  feared  or  disliked  is  shown  by  the  fear 
that  many  persons  have  of  small  and  harmless  insects. 
There  is  something  about  these  humbler  members  of  the 
animal  kingdom  which  seems  uncanny  to  many  persons, 
young  and  old.  Teachers  of  biology  in  high  schools 
find  that  many  pupils,  particularly  girls,  have  what  they 
extravagantly  describe  as  a  "  horror "  of  touching  or 
handling  insect  specimens  provided  for  class-study.  Not 
only  is  fear  or  disHke  of  insects  of  all  kinds  very  wide- 
spread, but  many  persons  have  a  special  dislike  or  dread 
of  particular  kinds  of  insects,  such  as  caterpillars,  angle 
worms,  or  sometimes  even  of  butterflies.  We  are  not 
surprised,  therefore,  to  find  dislike  or  fear  of  insects  ap- 
pear in  Httle  children. 

R.'s  first  sight  of  a  worm  (middle  of  the  nineteenth  month) 
jaused  fear.  The  child  was  sitting  on  the  lawn  playing  when 
a  little  worm  not  over  an  inch  long  ca.ught  his  eye.  He  at 
once  began  to  tremble  and  cry.  Five  days  later  he  was  play- 
ing with  a  ball  which  rolled  away  from  him  and  near  one  of 
the  dreaded  "  ums  "as  he  called  them.  He  wanted  the  ball 
very  much  but  would  not  pick  it  up  so  long  as  the  worm  was 
near  it.  .  .  .  By  a  curious  association  he  developed  a  fear 
of  house-flies  ("  ums  "  as  he  called  these  also)  in  the  early  part 
of  the  twentieth  month.  Fear  of  flies  was  even  greater  than 
the  fear  of  worms.  For  more  than  a  week  his  afternoon  naps 
were  spoiled  by  his  lying  awake  and  watching  in  dread  of  flies 
lighting  on  the  net  which  was  spread  over  his  crib.  In  the 
first  week  of  the  twenty -third  month  fear  of  flies  had  disap- 


I04  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

peared ;  but  he  was  still  afraid  of  worms  of  all  kinds  and 
sizes.  I  do  not  know  how  long  his  fear  of  worms  would  have 
continued,  for  with  the  approach  of  cold  weather  the  worms 
disappeared.  The  next  opportunity  to  observe  the  child's 
attitude  toward  worms  was  in  the  following  summer,  in  the 
child's  thirty-first  month.  At  first  he  was  afraid  to  touch  a 
small  measuring  worm  which  had  crawled  on  his  dress,  and 
wanted  me  to  brush  the  insect  away.  By  assuring  words,  and  by 
letting  the  insect  crawl  on  my  own  hand,  I  succeeded  in  entirely 
overcoming  his  fear,  so  that  he  not  only  no  longer  feared 
worms,  but  wanted  them  in  his  hands,  calling  them  '*nice, 
good,  fine  wums,"  words  which  I  had  used  to  get  him 
reconciled  to  havingjhem  near  him.  This  was  the  last  of  the 
fear  of  worms  in  the  period  covered  by  my  notes. 

Fear  of  horses,  —  Fear  of  the  family  driving  horse 
which  he  saw  and  rode  behind  almost  every  day  was  first 
noted  in  the  nineteenth  month.  The  child  would  cry 
and  struggle  to  get  away  if  set  on  the  horse's  back  or  if 
taken  near  him,  and  he  refused  to  touch  the  horse  al- 
though we  often  tried  to  get  him  to  do  so.  Finally,  in 
the  twenty-first  month  the  child  got  up  enough  courage 
to  rub  and  pat  the  horse  —  but  timidly  and^cautiously. 
Two  months  later  he  was  willing  to  sit  on  the  horse's 
back  and  enjoyed  patting  him  ;  but  curiously  he  was  still 
afraid  to  go  near  the  horse's  head.  Observation  of  the 
child's  fear  of  horses  was  interrupted  in  the  twenty-third 
month,  and  was  not  taken  up  again  until  the  thirty-first 
month  when  fear  to  be  near  the  animal  —  even  his  head 
—  had  entirely  disappeared ;  in  fact,  one  of  the  child's 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION       105 

greatest  pleasures  was  to  allow  the  horse  to  eat  grass 
from  his  hand. 

Fear  of  wild  animals.  —  Early  in  the  last  week  of  the 
child's  third  year  I  took  him  to  see  the  animals  belong- 
ing to  a  menagerie  which  had  its  winter  quarters  near  our 
home.  I  first  took  him  to  the  barn  containing  the  mild 
mannered  and  relatively  harmless,  hoofed  animals,  the  elk, 
camels  and  the  like ;  then  to  a  barn  containing  an  ibex, 
a  hippopotamus,  a  sacred  ox,  an  emu,  a  pair  of  small  deer, 
a  wild  hog  and  some  monkeys ;  then  to  the  bear  house ; 
then  to  the  barn  containing  the  animals  belonging  to 
the  cat  family,  lions,  tigers,  leopards  and  so  forth,  and  lastly 
to  the  elephant  barn.  I  thought  by  thus  starting  with 
what  would  seem  to  be  the  less  fearful  collection  of 
animals  and  gradually  approaching  the  most  frightful, 
the  child  would  get  pleasure  out  of  the  whole  visit.  But 
in  this  I  was  mistaken.  The  first  strange  animals  we 
came  across  caused  just  as  much  alarm  as  the  more 
terrible  tigers  and  lions ;  indeed  as  much  as  any  animals 
we  saw  except  the  elephants.  In  fact,  he  showed  fear 
of  every  strange  animal  we  saw,  showing  his  fear  by  his 
unwillingness  to  go  near  the  animals  and  crying  if  urged 
too  much  to  do  so.  His  greatest  fright,  however,  came 
in  the  elephant  barn.  In  order  to  see  the  elephants  we 
had  to  enter  a  narrow  space,  perhaps  fifteen  feet  across, 
around  which  the  great  beasts,  more  than  twenty  of  them 
were  standing,  munching  hay,  swinging  their  trunks  and 


I06  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

uttering  groans  perhaps  of  discontent.  The  whole  situa- 
tion was  enough  to  be  disconcerting  to  any  one  not  ac- 
customed to  it,  and  the  child  began  to  tremble  and  cry 
almost  as  soon  as  we  stepped  into  the  open  space  around 
which  the  animals  were  standing.  The  situation  was 
overwhelming,  and  no  wonder.  The  elephants  must 
have  looked  like  mountains  to  him,  and  with  swaying 
bodies,  trunks  upHfted  and  swinging  to  and  fro,  and  with 
the  groans  I  should  have  thought  the  child  precociously 
foolhardy  or  hopelessly  sluggish  and  pachydermatous  if 
he  had  not  shown  some  apprehension  in  the  presence  of 
such  an  overpowering  mass  of  matter  and  motion.  As  I 
stood  there,  I  thought  what  havoc  they  would  make  if 
they  should  go  on  a  "  rampage  "  ! 

FEAR   OF   STRANGERS 

Fear  of  strangers  is  a  well-known  phenomenon  of  in- 
fancy, and  practically  all  babies,  at  some  time  or  other, 
look  upon  strangers  with  distrust,  particularly  if  the  new- 
comer is  over-attentive  to  the  baby,  tries  to  take  him  on 
his  lap,  for  example.  Following  the  theory  already 
stated,  fear  of  strangers  is  only  one  instance  of  fear  of 
strangeness  in  general.  The  child  accustomed  to  seeing 
a  given  set  of  faces,  is  disturbed  by  the  first  appearance 
of  new  ones.  At  first,  this  fear  appears  as  a  stare, 
a  grave  look ;  later,  shrinking  away  and  crying  ap- 
pear when   strangers    are  too   friendly   with  the    child, 


THE   FEELINGS  AND   THEIR   EXPRESSION       107 

and  still  later,  after  the  child  is  able  to  walk,  he  will 
scuttle  away  just  as  he  does  when  cats  and  dogs  come 
too  near  him. 

The  age  at  which  fear  of  strangers  first  appears  differs 
greatly  from  child  to  child.  Miss  Shinn  says  that  about 
the  middle  of  the  fourth  month  her  niece  was  frightened 
by  a  caller  "  dressed  in  black  with  a  large  hat."  Con- 
siderably earlier  (second  week  of  the  third  month)  R. 
showed  fear  of  a  lady  caller  dressed  in  black.  The  child 
did  not  cry  out  or  shrink  or  try  to  hide,  but  the  stare,  the 
grave  look  was  very  noticeable  when  she  tried  to  play 
with  him  or  tried  to  take  him  to  her  lap.  From  this  ob- 
servation it  would  seem  that  Preyer  and  Sully  are  in  \ 
error  in  the  statement  that  babies  do  not  manifest  fear  of 
strangers  during  the  first  three  months,  that  prior  to  the 
fourth  month  all  human  faces  look  alike  to  them.  By 
the  middle  of  R.'s  eighth  month,  fear  of  strangers  was 
very  pronounced  ;  the  grave  look,  the  grimace  and  finally 
the  cry  came,  in  case  the  stranger  gave  him  too  much  at- 
tention. But  even  then  he  did  not  fear  all  strange  per- 
sons, and,  as  a  rule,  his  fear  vanished  after  a  half  hour  or 
so,  if  the  stranger  tarried  so  long.  In  the  latter  part 
of  the  fifteenth  month,  the  child  R.  had  a  big  cry  when 
the  doctor  who  had  had  much  experience  with  babies 
wanted  to  take  him  in  his  lap.  A  few  days  later  he  gave 
us  much  merriment  by  scuttling  out  of  the  room  as  fast 


I08  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

as  he  could  when  one  of  my  colleagues  stopped  for  a  few 
minutes'  chat.  The  child  did  not,  on  this  occasion,  seem 
so  much  frightened  as  shy.  His  face  was  placid  and  the 
request  on  the  part  of  the  caller  to  come  to  him  was  met 
with  a  positive  but  happy  shake  of  the  head  in  declina- 
tion. ...  In  the  eighteenth  month,  the  child  was 
willing  to  go  to  almost  any  one,  except  heavily  bearded 
persons  and  persons  who  approached  him  too  abruptly. 
By  the  end  of  the  twentieth  month  fear  of  strangers  had 
disappeared ;  he  no  longer  cried  or  tried  to  get  away  from 
them.  But  hke  adults,  he  was  more  at  ease,  his  play  and 
general  conduct  were  freer,  in  the  presence  of  persons 
well  known  than  in  the  presence  of  strangers.  Shyness, 
which  as  Sully  remarks,  is  to  be  distinguished  from,  yet 
closely  related  to,  true  fear  of  strangers  did  not  appear 
often  in  the  period  covered  by  these  notes,  /.  e.,  during 
the  first  three  years.^ 


» The  following  passage  from  Preyer's  record  of  his  child's  "  Interpreta- 
tion of  what  is  seen,"  may  be  quoted  as  an  instance  of  fear  of  a  stranger 
dressed  in  black  who  unexpectedly  appeared  on  the  scene  :  —  "  Eighteenth 
month.  — At  the  unexpected  sight  of  a  tall  man  dressed  in  black,  the  child 
becomes  suddenly  still,  stares  at  the  man  about  a  minute,  flees  to  his  father 
and  gazes,  motionless,  at  the  tall  figure.  Immediately  after  the  man  had 
withdrawn,  the  child  said  atta,  and  was  unrestrainedly  merry  and  loud  as 
before.  Here  an  unexpected  visual  impression  had  evidently  caused 
anxiety,  without  any  assignable  reason,  for  the  man  whose  appearance  the 
child  did  not  know  how  to  interpret  was  friendly  toward  him.  It  was 
not  till  the  end  of  his  second  year  that  the  child  ceased  to  be  so  easily 
embarrassed  b^  strangers  in  black  dress  "  (  Op.  cit.^  Part  I,  p.  64). 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION       109 
FEAR   OF   STORMS 

In  Dr.  Stanley  Hall's  Study  of  Fears  ^  in  which  he  an- 
alyzed 5,037  separate  cases  of  fear  which  were  reported  to 
him,  he  found  that  thunder-storms  were  named  oftener 
than  any  other  single  object  of  fear.  "  Perhaps,"  he 
writes,  ♦'  nowhere  is  the  power  of  noise  to  control  feelings, 
and  also  to  excite  imagery  so  well  seen  "  (as  in  the  effect 
of  thunder).  The  sudden,  vivid  flashes  of  lightning,  the 
peals  of  thunder,  the  dashing  rain,  the  bending  and  creak- 
ing of  trees  and  buildings  seldom  fail  to  awaken  some 
uneasiness  and  alarm  even  in  the  stoutest  heart.  So  we 
are  not  surprised  to  learn  that  sooner  or  later  most  chil- 
dren develop  a  fear  of  storms,  particularly  if  severe  and 
accompanied  by  heavy  thunder. 

Children  differ  greatly  as  to  the  age  at  which  the 
storm  fear  first  appears.  R.  first  showed  alarm  at  a  rain- 
storm in  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth  month,  looking 
very  grave  while  the  storm  raged,  saying,  "  wain  wain  " 
as  the  rain  beat  against  the  windows.  Another  child,  J., 
twenty  months  old,  showed  not  the  least  bit  of  alarm  at  a 

*  Anter.  Jour.  Psy.,  Vol.  VIII,  p.  I47ff.  I  cannot  resist  the  temptation 
to  quote  a  characteristic  passage  from  Dr.  Hall's  reference  to  "  wind  *'  as  a  \y' 
fear  arousing  agent,  as  follows  :  "  It  (the  wind)  is  the  band-master  of 
the  many  membered  orchestra  of  nature's  music,  and  can  play  upon  al- 
most the  whole  gamut  of  our  emotional  life.  The  present  reactions  of 
childish  and  adolescent  souls,  or  of  special  sensitized  geniuses,  or  neurotics 
still  bear  some  trace  or  scar  of  the  more  dreadful  storms  of  the  long  age 
of  diluvial  man  or  even  of  the  older  sea  which  still  make  our  souls  better 
resonators  to  bring  out  some  of  the  wind  effects." 


no  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

Storm  much  severer  than  the  one  which  caused  R.  much 
anxiety.  In  the  nineteenth  month,  R.  went  about  the 
room  during  a  rain-storm  shutting  inside  window  shutters 
to  shut  out  the  rain.  After  closing  all  of  them  he  said 
"  aga  "  (all  gone)  and  went  about  his  play. 

As  we  should  expect,  storms  at  night  are  more  likely 
to  be  fearful  than  day  storms.  Once  in  the  twenty- 
fourth  and  once  in  the  twenty-sixth  month  rain-storms 
which  came  in  the  night  caused  R.  to  cry  and  tremble 
with  fear.  In  the  last  named  month  it  was  found  that 
the  child's  storm-fear  could  be  allayed,  almost  overcome 
by  throwing  pleasant  associations  about  the  dreadful 
phenomenon.  The  child's  mother  spoke  of  the  storm  as 
"  funny,"  of  the  wind  as  playing  in  the  trees  and  the  like. 
So  effective  was  this  training  that  when,  during  a  storm, 
of  which  there  were  a  number  during  the  childT  twenty- 
seventh  month,  he  was  asked,  What  is  that  ?  as  a  loud 
clap  of  thunder  died  away,  he  said,  "  whun  whun " 
(fun),  and  showed  no  alarm  at  the  sound.  This  seems  to 
agree  with  the  common  belief  that  many  child  fears  can 
be  overcome  by  patient  and  judicious  training  by 
parents  ;  also  that  a  great  many  fears  are  suggested  to 
children,  or,  being  very  contagious,  children  easily  catch 
them.  At  any  rate  R.'s  fear  of  thunder-  and  rain-storms 
was  almost  entirely  overcome  by  his  mother's  training. 
But  fear  of  lightning  soon  appeared.  In  the  latter  part 
of  the  thirtieth   month,  it  was   noticed   that   the   child 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION       III 

Started  and  seemed  frightened  at  sudden  flashes  of  hght- 
ning.  Most  grown  persons  experience  a  slight  momentary 
shock  at  the  sight  of  Hghtning  flashes,  and  children,  per- 
haps because  of  their  less  stable  nervous  systems,  are  af- 
fected more  strongly. 

R.'s  fear  of  thunder-storms  ran  another  course  in  his 
thirty-second  month,  this  time  being  strongly  suggested 
by  being  caught  in  a  rain-storm  while  driving  with  two  of 
his  elders  who  showed  great  anxiety  at  the  approach  of 
the  storm,  and  who  made  a  hard  drive  for  shelter.  On 
the  basis  of  these  notes  one  may  say  generally  that  the 
storm  fear  begins  to  make  its  appearance  in  the  form  of 
vague  alarm  or  dislike  about  the  middle  of  the  second 
first  year,  and  may  be  expected,  under  the  most  favorable 
educational  influences,  to  reach  its  greatest  natural  height 
by  the  middle  of  the  third  year. 

FEAR   OF   FALLING 

In  the  latter  part  of  R.'s  nineteenth  month  he  devel- 
oped the  very  curious  fear  of  narrow  cracks  in  side-walks. 
When  we  came  to  them,  while  out  for  a  walk,  he  would 
stop,  utter  a  fretful  cry  and  refuse  to  try  to  step  across 
them,  though  in  most  cases  they  were  not  over  an  inch 
wide.  I  attributed  this  conduct  to  fear  of  falling  for  want 
of  a  better  explanation,  and  for  the  reason  that  at  this 
time  he  was  afraid  to  step  off  elevations  such  as  the  street 
curbing  even  when  they  were  only  two  or  three  inches 


112  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

high.  Again  in  the  second  week  of  the  twentieth  month 
while  out  walking  we  came  to  a  place  in  the  board  walk 
where  a  board  was  missing  leaving  a  crack  five  inches 
wide.  The  child  stopped  suddenly,  saying  "  eh  eh  "  anx- 
iously as  he  looked  down  at  the  breach  in  the  walk. 
Finally  after  much  encouragement,  he  cautiously  stepped 
between  the  boards  on  the  earth,  then  onto  the  next 
board  with  a  grunt  of  rehef  or  accomplishment,  I  did  not 
know  which. 

An  unexpected  forrri  of  the  fear  of  crack-in-the-walk 
was  seen  in  tRe  child's  refusal  to  try  to  step  over  a  narrow 
crack  in  a  bridge  which  we  were  crossing  (twenty-fifth 
month).  CJh  this  occasion,  as  on  the  former  ones,  it  was 
impossible  io  say  whether  it  was  a  case  of  fear  of  falling 
or  merely  fear  of  the  strangeness  of  the  break  which  the 
crack  made  in  the  fairly  uniform  appearance  of  the  part 
of  the  bridge  over  which  we  had  already  passed.  .  .  . 
By  the  middle  of  the  twenty -seventh  month  fear  of  cracks 
in  bridges  or  side-walks  had  disappeared,  so  also  had  fear 
of  stepping  down  from  low  steps  and  curb-stones.  .  .  . 
Two  cases  of  fear  which  were  more  clearly  fears  of  falling 
were  seen  in  the  last  half  of  the  third  year.  For  a  week 
during  his  thirty-first  month  the  child  took  his  afternoon 
naps  on  a  couch  one  side  of  which  was  open.  In  some 
way  he  got  the  idea  that  he  might  roll  off  the  couch  and 
would  not  go  to  sleep  until  two  chairs  with  closed  backs 
were  placed  against  the  couch;   then  he  felt  perfectly 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION       II3 

secure,  became  quiet,  rolled  over  and  went  to  sleep.  On 
the  first  day  of  the  child's  thirty-second  month  while 
playing  with  the  child  I  placed  him  astride  the  Umb  of  a 
tree  leaving  his  legs  dangling  in  the  air  about  four  feet 
from  the  ground.  (See  Fig.  3,  Plate  2.)  At  first,  he 
trembled  with  fear  saying  ♦*  faw  faw,"  but,  being  assured 
that  I  would  hold  him  so  he  would  not  fall,  the  fear  soon 
passed  away  and  he  was  greatly  pleased  with  the  new 
position,  wanted  to  dispense  with  my  service,  pro- 
tested when  I  started  to  take  him  down,  and  asked 
to  be  put  back  on  the  limb  after  I  had  taken  him 
down.^ 

FEAR   O^   A   NEWLY    BORN   BABY 

R.'s  first  sight  of  his  ten  hour  old  baby  brother  caused 
marked  signs  of  fear,  or  apprehension  and  bewilderment 
(twentieth  month).  He  peered  into  the  crib  at  the  baby 
saying,  "  babie,  babie,"  over  and  over  in  a  half  anxious, 
fretful  tone  and  refused  to  touch  him  when  urged  to  do 
so.  He  took  the  nurse's  hand  and  wanted  her  to  touch 
or   take   the   baby,  but   he  declined  even  to  touch  the 

^  The  rapid  change  of  feeling  toward  the  new  experience  of  sitting 
astride  the  limb  of  a  tree,  leaving  the  legs  dangling  fre^,  was  typical  of 
the  way  emotional  changes  followed  one   another  in  many  of  the  child's    ^ 
new  experiences:  first,  aversion  or  fear,  then  toleration  and  contentment,   / 
and  finally  positive  delight  in    the  originally  unpleasant  situation  —  so  I 
plastic  is  the  little  child's  nervous  system,  and  so  ready  is  he  to  find  points 
of  pleasure  in  new  experiences  the  moment  the  original  fear  or  aversion  J 
is  quieted. 


l/' 


114  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

newly  arrived  ruler  of  the  household.  The  baby's  cry- 
ing increased  R.'s  apprehension  and  anxiety  about  the 
meaning  of  the  newcomer.  Three  days  later  he  had  a 
hard  fit  of  crying  when  he  saw  the  nurse  place  the  baby 
to  the  breast.  Fear  of  the  baby  gradually  faded  so  that 
at  the  end  of  the  baby's  tenth  day  R.  enjoyed  looking 
at  and  touching  him  whenever  allowed  to  do  so. 

^  FEAR    OF   FURS 

Those  \^ho  believe  in  the  theory  that  fear  of  definite 
objects  is  inherited  would  score  a  point  if  it  could 
be  shown  that  most  children  are  frightened  by  the 
first  touch  or  sight  of  furs,  the  presumption  being  that 
a  wide-spread  fear  of  a  definite  sensation  like  that  of 
the  touch  of  fur  could  best  be  explained  by  reference  to 
the  remote  past  when  our  ancestors  lived  in  mortal  dread 
of  hairy  monsters,  and  that  some  "  faint  reminiscent 
echo  "  of  the  struggles  our  primitive  ancestors  had  with 
their  hairy  enemies  is  found  in  the  fur-fear.  We  find, 
however,  as  Dr.  Hall  admits,  that  love  of  furs  is  far  more 
common  than  the  fear  of  them.  But  instead  of  being 
surprised  at  this  result,  and  looking  upon  it  as  a  matter 
to  be  explained  by  reference  "  to  a  time  when  association 
with  animals  was  far  closer  than  now,  or  perhaps  when 
our  remote  ancestors  were  hairy,"  is  it  not  enough  to  say 
that  the  touch  of  soft  furs  is  pleasing  just  as  certain  tastes 
and  smells  are  pleasant.     Of  course,  it  is  clear  that  such 


THE  FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION       II5 

a  statement  does  not  carry  any  explanation  of  just  why 
the  organism  is  affected  pleasantly  by  one  set  of  sensa- 
tions and  unpleasantly  by  another,  or  why  some  sensations 
are  pleasing  to  some  organisms  and  displeasing  to  others ; 
why,  for  example,  carrion  is  nauseous  to  us  and  seem- 
ingly pleasant  and  palatable  to  some  of  the  lower  animals. 
And  here  no  doubt  we  have  a  problem  in  phylogeny 
rather  than  in  ontogeny.  But  the  explanation  of  our 
general  liking  for  soft  and  smooth  touches  and  our  dis- 
like of  hard,  rough  ones  requires  a  vastly  wider  sweep  of 
racial  experience  than  the  reference  to  any  single  lot  of 
touch  experiences,  e.  g.y  contact  with  hairy  animals.  At 
all  events,  the  two  children  with  whom  I  have  experi- 
mented to  learn  their  feelings  about  the  touch  of  fur  clearly 
did  not  experience  any  of  "  the  frightful  reminiscent  echo  " 
of  ancestral  combat  with  hairy  monsters.  On  the  contrary, 
both  have  always  shown '  a  keen  pleasure  in  the  touch 
of  soft  furs.  My  experiments  with  R.  began  on  his 
seventy-third  day  (eleventh  week)  and  were  repeated  at 
different  times  during  the  first  and  second  years,  with  the 
result  already  mentioned.  My  experiments  with  J.  be- 
gan in  the  second  week  of  his  fourth  month  and  extended 
through  the  eighteenth  with  results  not  very  different 
from  those  seen  when  R.  was  given  furs  and  encouraged 
to  touch  t^iem. 

MISCELLANEOUS   FEARS 

Under  this  heading  will  be  reported  fears  which  are 


Il6  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

not  easily  classed  under  the  headings  already  used. 
On  his  twenty-first  day,  R.  was  frightened  when 
he  was  first  put  into  a  bowl  of  water  for  his  bath. 
He  shrank  from  the  water  as  it  was  poured  over 
him,  and  while  he  did  not  make  an  outcry,  his  whole 
expression  was  that  of  alarm  at  the  new  treatment,  or 
rather  the  new  method  of  treatment  which  he  was  re- 
ceiving. But  after  a  few  days  he  became  used  to  the 
bowl  bath  and  sat  in  the  water  quite  at  ease  during  the 
bath.  When,  however,  he  outgrew  the  bowl  and  was  put 
into  a  child's  bath-tub  for  his  bath,  he  experienced  a  new 
fright,  holding  firmly  to  the  sides  of  the  tub  and  trembling, 
showing  plainly  that  the  new  surroundings  were  disliked 
and  alarming.  But  he  soon  became  accustomed  to  the 
change,  and  after  a  little  while  enjoyed  being  in  the  bath- 
tub filled  with  water. 

A  small  number  of  single  instances  of  fear  remain  to  be 
mentioned :  (i)  Fear  of  a  big,  brown,  soft  hat  which  he 
refused  to  have  put  on  his  head  although  he  liked  to  wear 
a  black  Derby  which  he  saw  frequently  (eleventh  month) ; 
(2)  fear  of  the  mewing  of  a  cow  (twenty-ninth  month)  ; 
scuttled  to  the  house  when  the  cow  began  to  call  to  her 
calf  although  he  had  been  interested  in  watching  her  so 
long  as  she  was  quiet ;  (3)  fear  of  toads  which  he  saw  in 
the  dim  moonlight  as  they  hopped  along  on  the  side- 
walk or  in  the  grass.  This  fear  was  quickly  dispelled  by 
referring  to  the  toads  as  birds  which  he  was  used  to  seeing 


THE  FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION       II7 

hopping  about  the  lawn  in  the  daytime.  A  number  of 
other  fears  were  noted,  but  they  belonged  to  the  class  of 
suggested  or  taught  fears  such  as  the  fear  of  pins,  stoves, 
knives  and  the  hke  which  the  child  had  been  told  not 
to  touch. 

ANGER 

Impatience,  displeasure,  disappointment,  annoyance, 
vexation,  shade  so  gradually  into  genuine  anger  that  one 
cannot  draw  a  line  and  say,  this  is  clearly  anger  and  that 
is  something  less  than  anger.  We  shall,  therefore,  use 
the  word  "  anger"  to  include  all  those  unpleasant  feelings 
which  if  intensified  and  accompanied  by  a  consciousness 
of  their  cause  would  constitute  genuine  angers.  We 
shall  not  attempt  to  answer  the  question  —  at  how  early 
an  age  a  baby  feels  anger  —  or  what  is  the  nature  of  the 
consciousness  accompanying  the  earliest  angry  expres- 
sions ;  or  whether,  in  the  first  weeks  and  months,  angry 
cries  are  merely  automatic  affairs  representing  instinctive 
coordinations  having  no  conscious  value,  as  King  and 
others  believe.  The  answers  to  these  questions,  owing 
to  the  obscurity  of  the  phenomena  in  question,  must  al- 
ways be  doubtful ;  and,  in  any  event,  the  answers  would 
differ  from  child  to  child.  We  can  say,  however,  with  a 
high  degree  of  certainty  that  the  anger  expressing  appa- 
ratus is  almost  ready  to  function  at  birth,  that  the  baby 
comes  into  the  world  prepared  to  act  as  if  angry  in  the 


Il8  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

event  the  proper  influences   of  his  environment  reach 
him. 

The  causes  or  conditions  of  anger,  or  impatient  crying 
on  the  part  of  the  infant  may  be  divided  into  four  classes  : 
(i)  when  the  gratification  of  an  instinct,  like  sucking,  is 
thwarted,  (2)  when  a  pleasant  sense-experience  is  inter- 
rupted, (3)  when  the  child's  purposes  are  crossed,  (4) 
when  an  injury  is  associated  in  the  child's  mind  with  the 
idea  of  its  cause.  We  have  seen  already  in  the  para- 
graphs on  "  Unpleasant  Feelings  "  (p.  80)  that  the  child 
R.  uttered  fretful,  impatient  cries  in  the  first  days  when 
the  instinct  to  suck  was  thwarted  either  by  his  failing  to 
get  the  breast,  or  by  losing  it  after  it  had  once  been 
seized ;  also  that  on  his  fifth  day  the  child  cried  out  if  a  finger 
"or  other  object  which  he  had  been  allowed  to  clasp  was 
pulled  as  if  to  take  it  away  from  him.  The  fretful  crying 
as  if  annoyed  (seventeenth  day)  when  the  child's  hands 
were  handled  or  held  was  also  mentioned.  These  early 
cries,  no  doubt,  belong  to  the  instinctive  group  and 
possess  only  slight  conscious  value.  But  they  were 
clearly  different  from  the  cries  of  hunger,  of  bodily  dis- 
comfort from  washing,  of  displeasure  when  the  lips  were 
touched  with  cold  water,  or  the  cry  following  a  startling 
noise  like  the  slamming  of  a  door,  or  a  shrill  whistle. 
We  saw  also  that  early  in  the  fourth  month,  crying  en- 
sued if  an  object  —  as  a  tassel  —  which  he  had  been  hold- 
ing was  taken  away  from  him.     A  little  later  in  the 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION       II9 

month,  failure  to  get  his  hands  on  an  attractive  object  — 
a  watch  or  toy  —  brought  forth  impatient,  fretful  cries. 
(Mrs.  Moore  reports  that  in  the  sixteenth  week  her  child 
reached    for    balls  with  the  open  hands    and    seemed 
annoyed  when  he  could  not  reach  them.)     Still  later  in 
the  month,  R.  was  distinctly  displeased  when  a  wad  of 
paper  which  he  was  crumbling  and  shaking  was  taken 
from  him  or  when  it  rolled  out  of  his  reach.     Early  in 
the  fifth  month,  signs  of  anger  or  impatience  like  those 
already  mentioned,  but  more  pronounced^  were  noticed 
when  toys  were  taken  from  him,  or  when  they  were  held 
over  him,  but  out  of  his  reach.     In  the  latter  case  he 
would  reach  for  the  toy,  and  if  unsuccessful  would  break 
out  crying.     Three  new  causes  of  angry  crying  were 
noted  in  the  sixth, seventh  and  eighth  months ;  (i)  efforts  to 
get  the  child  to  go  to  sleep  were  frequently  resisted  by  kick- 
ing and  angry  crying  (sixth  month) ;  (2)  laying  the  child 
in  his  crib  after  holding  him  for  a  time  in  one's  lap  often 
brought  out  angry  cries  (seventh  month);  (3)  unmistakable 
signs  of  anger  (reddening  of  the  scalp,  thrusting  bottle 
from  mouth  and  crying)  appeared  if  the  child  was  given 
a  bottle  containing  water  instead  of  milk,  near  his  regular 
feeding  time  (eighth  month.)     Early  in  the  ninth  month 
considerable  variety  was  noticeable  in  the  manner  of  ex- 
pressing anger  and  its  near  neighbors^  disappointment, 
annoyance  and  so  forth.     For  example,  the  child's  out- 
cry when  resisting  an  attempt  to  take  a  toy  from  him 


I20  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

was  very  different  from  the  angry  cries  one  heard  when 
his  nursing  bottle  did  not  allow  the  milk  to  flow  freely. 
In  the  tenth  month  attempts  to  put  the  child  to  sleep 
were  resisted  by  angry  cries,  stiffening  the  back,  and  a 
general  tension  of  the  muscles.  In  the  same  month,  fret- 
ful crying  followed  when  toys,  dolls,  balls,  etc.,  were  taken 
from  him,  or  when  playthings  rolled  out  of  his  reach. 
Striking  up  and  down  with  the  arms  appeared  in  the 
twelfth  month  as  a  clearly  marked  feature  of  the  angry 
expression.  Also  throwing  things  away  which  were 
offered  to  him  as  substitutes  in  order  to  get  him  to  give 
up  dangerous  articles  (a  table-fork,  for  example),  or  in 
order  to  divert  his  mind  when  he  was  angry,  or  when  he 
desired  to  be  taken  up.  Unsuccessful  efforts  of  all  kinds, 
e.  g.,  to  move  an  article  of  furniture  at  which  he  was  tug- 
ging, nearly  always  brought  forth  fretful,  impatient  cries. 
In  J.'s  thirteenth  month,  in  connection  with  a  series  of 
observations  and  experiments  to  determine  the  child's 
method  of  learning  to  put  a  pencil  in  a  spool-hole, 
appeared  a  very  curious  and  a  very  adult-like  expression 
of  impatience  when  the  child  failed  to  get  the  pencil  in 
the  spool-hole.  He  would  sit  working  patiently  trying 
to  get  the  pencil  in' the  hole  for  a  few  seconds,  like  an 
older  person  trying  to  get  a  coarse  thread  in  a  little  needle 
eye,  then,  if  unsuccessful,  would  give  his  hand  a  little  im- 
patient toss  or  shake  as  if  to  say,  *♦  O  pshaw,"  then  begin 
tp  kick  rapidly  with  both  feet.     It  was  a  beautiful  illus- 


THE  FEELINGS  AND   THEIR  EXPRESSION       121 

tration  of  the  tendency  of  energy  to  flow  out  along  smooth 
channels  when  the  course  into  which  it  had  been  directed 
was  found  to  be  blocked.  * 

A  comparatively  mild  but  clearly  marked  form  of  ex- 
pressing anger  was  developed  in  the  latter  part  of  R.'s 
fourteenth  month  when  the  child  was  refused  articles  for 
which  he  was  reaching.  First  came  a  frown,  then  head 
and  shoulders  were  thrown  back,  the  back  stiffened,  and  a 
grunting  protest  was  uttered.  Eagerness  for  given  objects 
and  impatience  because  he  could  not  have  them  was  ex- 
pressed by  a  fretful  cry  and  jumping  up  and  down  from 
the  hips  when  sitting.  This  expression  was  the  fore- 
runner of  the  fretful  crying  and  "  dancing  "  in  eagerness 
and  impatience  which  appeared  in  the  early  months  of 
the  second  year. 

Probably  the  foregoing  will  be  sufficient  to  indicate 
the  general  causes  and  the  forms  of  expression  of  the 
emotion  of  anger  and  closely  related  feelings  in  infancy. 
During  the  remainder  of  R.'s  second  and  third  years, 
neither  the  situations  which  provoked  anger,  nor  the 
forms   of  its  expression  differed  greatly  from  those  al- 

»  One  could  not  watch  this  performance  without  thinking,  "  how  like 
the  conduct  of  the  grown-up  in  the  presence  of  obstacles  which  block 
his  line  of  advance,"  with  the  striking  difference,  of  course,  that  the  adult 
usually  has  better  control,  and  inhibits  the  impatient  toss,  or  shake  of  the 
hand,  and  the  kick.  Moreover,  he  takes  thought  about  the  difficulties  of 
the  situation,  and  devises  ways  to  overcome  them.  And  yet,  in  the  nurs- 
ery, one  sees  human  nature  stripged  of  all  artificial  disguises,  forms,  pre- 
tense and  false  shows. 


122  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

ready  mentioned.  About  the  middle  of  his  third  year, 
stamping  with  one  foot  to  enforce  his  requests  or  petu- 
lant commands  became,  for  a  time,  a  striking  feature  of 
his  manner  of  showing  bad  humor.  For  example,  after 
he  had  with  great  pains  piled  twelve  cubical  blocks  on 
top  of  one  another  his  little  girl  playmate  K.  struck  the 
pile  and  knocked  it  over.  The  first  time  she  did  this,  R. 
only  looked  slightly  puzzled  and  rebuilt  the  pile.  The 
second  time  she  knocked  them  over,  he  shouted  over 
and  over,  "  No,  K.,"  shook  his  hand  at  her  and  stamped 
his  foot  to  emphasize  his  protest  against  her  naughtiness. 
A  day  or  so  later,  the  child  was  seen  stamping  his  foot 
at  his  infant  brother  when  the  latter  refused  to  let  loose 
of  a  little  wagon  which  R.  wanted.^  (I  am  not  sure 
whether  the  stamping  was  imitative  or  original  with  the 
child,  but  I  think  the  former.)  In  concluding  this  brief 
account  of  anger  it  may  be  said  that  I  have  never  seen 
in  R.  the  violent  outbursts  of  anger  which  some  ob- 
servers report,  such  as  striking  blindly  and  viciously, 
kicking  at  offending  persons  and  things,  biting,  and  hurl- 

1  With  reference  to  stamping  as  an  expression  of  anger,  Stanley  Hall 
makes  the  interesting  observation  that,  "  In  many  savage  dances,  stamp- 
ing the  ground  sometimes  with  bare  feet  and  with  great  force  is  an  ex- 
pression of  annihilating  an  imaginary  foe.  Sheep,  some  birds  and  other 
animals  do  the  same.  /  Stamping  suggests  having  the  enemy  under  foot 
and  thus  complete  tri\piph.  A  vigorous  up  and  down  movement  can 
tread  life  out  very  effectively.  Our  returns  show  that  soon  after  learning 
to  walk,  children  vent  anger  thus  first  with  no  reference  to  an  adversary" 
{Amer.  Jour,  of  Psy.,  Vol.  X,  p.  555f.). 


THE  FEELINGS  AND  THEIR  EXPRESSION       1 23 

ing  missiles,  or  any  of  the  more  violent  forms  of  express- 
ing anger.  I  have  never  seen  a  single  trait  which  even 
the  "  unembarrassed  scientist "  would  call  vicious. 
Whether  these  decidedly  ugly  traits  do  not  appear  in  the 
first  three  years,  or  whether  the  child  is  unusually  mild 
tempered,  or  whether^  because  some  pains  have  been 
taken  not  to  provoke  him  unduly,  I  cannot  say  posi- 
tively. My  behef  is  that  it  is  not  in  the  disposition  of 
the  child  to  feel  high  rage,  his  temper  is  equable,  and  he 
has  not  had  an  opportunity,  so  far,  to  learn  from  other 
children  by  imitation^e  more  violent  forms  of  express- 
ing anger.  "" 


CHAPTER  V 

DEVELOPMENT   OF   IMITATION* 

A  child's  imitative  movements  are  called  forth  directly 
by  similar  movements  on  the  part  of  some  other  person 
or  thing.  In  imitation  the  exciting  stimulus  is  copied 
with  more  or  less  exactness,  and  the  presumption  is  that 
the  action  would  not  have  occurred  but  for  the  existence 
of  the  copy. 

The  psychologist  explains  the  rise  of  imitative  movements 
by  referring,  first,  to  the  general  law  that  "  every  sort  of  con- 
sciousness whatever,  be  it  sensation,  feeling,  or  idea  .  .  , 
directly  and  of  itself  tend  (s)  to  discharge  into  some  motor 
effect;'"  and  then,  to  the  special  statement  of  the  law  that 
"the  idea  of  a  movement  is  already  the  beginning  of  that 
movement,"  understanding  "by  the  *  idea  of  a  movement,' 
not  merely  the  clear  consciousness  of  a  movement,  but  also 
the  vaguest  and  most  subconscious  reminiscences,  feelings,  in- 

•  The  description  of  the  development  of  the  imitative  function  given  in 
this  chapter  is  based,  in  the  main,  upon  the  record  of  the  child  R.'s  imita- 
tive movements.  While  the  account  gives,  so  it  is  believed,  the  general 
order  of  the  development  of  this  function  one  should  make  allowance  for 
individual  differences  among  children  when  comparing  this  report  with 
others.  .  .  .  No  reference  is  made  in  this  chapter  to  the  development 
of  imitative  speech,  or  of  the  early  forms  of  imitative  penciling.  These 
topics  are  discussed  in  the  chapters  on  Language  and  Drawing  respect, 
ively, 

'  James,  Talks  on  Psychology ^  p.  170. 

124 


Plate  III.— 1  and  2.   Imitative  movements.    3.  Imitative 

WAVE    OF    the    hand.       4.    THE    "  SLEEPY    RUB."       5.    AN    EARLY 
STAGE  IN  LEARNING  TO  USE  A  SPOON. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  IMITATION  1 25 

timations  of  movement  which  cluster,  or  hang  about  or  enter 
into,  however  meagerly,  the  state  of  mind  which  issues  in  the 
movement  making  up  the  suggested  reaction."  '  For  example, 
the  idea  of  nodding  the  head  is  the  beginning  of  that  move- 
ment, and  if  the  idea  is  vivid  enough,  and  if  not  inhibited  in 
some  way,  the  movement  will  occur.  It  is  said  further,  that 
the  child  is  more  imitative  than  the  older  person  for  the  reason 
that  his  ideas  meet  fewer  inhibiting  factors  ;  so  an  idea  in  the 
child's  mind  tends  to  issue  at  once  in  action. 

Reflex  imitation.  —  The  infant's  earliest  imitative  acts 
are  of  the  reflex  type,  and  include  crowing,  gurgling, 
murmuring  and  other  not  easily  described  happy  re- 
sponses to  the  lively  manner  and  prattle  of  those  caring  for 
the  child  ;  and  also  sympathetic  crying.  These  first  imita- 
tive reactions  are  of  the  nature  of  sympathetic  responses  of 
the  organism  to  the  environment ;  they  belong  to  the  class 
of  movements  which  Stout  describes  as  "  sensation  re- 
flexes." 2  It  is  as  if  the  child  brings  into  the  world  an 
organism  partially  tuned  to  respond  in  like  to  -certain 
stimuli  of  his  environment.^  So  when  one  leans  over  a 
baby's  crib  and  laughs  or  prattles  in  a  lively  manner,  the 
baby,  if  in  comfort,  makes  gurgling  and  crowing  sounds 


>  Baldwin,  Mental  Development^  p.  167. 

«  Cf.  Stout,  Manual  of  Psychology,  Bk.  II,  Chap.  II. 

'  This  native  characteristic  of  the  organism  accounts,  in  part,  for  what 
is  known  as  the  "contagion  of  emotion,"  for  the  catching  nature  of  moods 
either  of  cheerfulness  or  gloominess  among  older  persons  as  well  as 
among  children.  Mothers  and  nurses  often  observe  that  if  one  baby  in  a 
nursery  breaks  out  crying,  others  will  begin  crying  in  sympathy. 


126  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

in  response.  The  child  seems  to  catch  the  mood  of  his 
entertainer.  Somewhat  later  appear  murmuring,  scold- 
ing, crowing ;  and  later  still,  mouth  twisting,  which  has 
every  appearance  of  being  an  effort  to  "  talk "  or  to 
make  vocal  sounds,  in  response  to  the  prattle  of  the 
child's  entertainer. 

Miss  Shinn  states  that  "  in  the  fourth  month  her  niece 
made  her  little  sounds  with  an  air  of  friendly  response 
when  we  prattled  to  her,  giving  back  murmurs,  croaks, 
and  gurgles  for  words.  .  .  .  If  we  imitated  to  her 
some  of  these  sounds  she  seemed  to  imitate  them  back."  ^ 
Mrs.  Moore  observed  that,  "  by  the  thirty-sixth  day  her 
child,  when  talked  or  sung  to,  began  to  niove  his  lips  and 
to  make  some  sounds,  and  that  ten  days  later  responsive 
sounds  were  habitually  made."  As  Miss  Shinn  suggests, 
it  would  be  unsafe  to  conclude  that  these  responses,  so 
imitative  in  appearance,  are  intentional.  The  child  does 
not  mean  to  imitate  the  prattle  or  singing.  Nor  are  they 
inere  "  accidental  coincidences,"  as  Preyer  thinks.  The 
prattle  and  singing  call  forth  imitative  responses  —  smil- 
ing, gurgles,  murmurs,  and  crowing  —  as  certainly  and  as 
uniformly  as  laying  a  pencil  in  the  child's  hand  ^alls 
forth  the  clasping  reflex. 

Of  course  one  cannot  be  absolutely  sure  that  these  responses, 
apparently  so  imitative,  are  in  every  case  called  forth  by  the 

*  Biography  of  a  Baby^  p.  I37f. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  IMITATION  1 27 

laughing  prattle  and  the  lively  manner  of  the  one  entertaining 
the  baby ;  that  they  are  not  spontaneous  in  some  instances,  and 
that  the  resemblance  to  the  copy  is  not  a  mere  coincidence 
seized  upon  by  the  observer.  One  also  remembers  that  when 
one  is  bent  on  getting  the  baby  to  do  something,  he  cannot 
help  giving  some  sort  of  exhibition.  Neither  the  tone  of  voice 
nor  the  manner  of  the  demonstrative  object  before  him  suggests 
crying  —  an  easy  thing  to  do  —  so  his  response  flows  out  in  an- 
other hardly  less  smooth  channel,  namely,  gurgling,  crowing, 
murmuring. 

The  instance  noted  by  Preyer  of  his  boy  pursing  the  lips 
imitatively  in  the  fifteenth  week,  probably,  was  an  "  accidental 
coincidence."  In  that  instance,  the  father  set  as  a  copy  a 
movement  —  pursing  the  lips  —  which  the  child  had  performed 
many  times  spontaneously,  and  so  was  an  easy  line  of  expres- 
sion. When  the  father  pursed  his  lips  for  the  child  it  was  to 
be  expected  that  the  child  would  do  something,  and  that  the 
motor  discharge  should  follow  a  path  already  smooth.  The 
pursing-lips  path  was  such  an  one,  and,  in  the  case  noted,  was 
the  one  which  was  taken.  This  interpretation  (which  Preyer 
himself  suggests  as  the  most  likely  one)  is  strengthened  by  the 
fact  that  imitative  pursings  could  not  be  called  forth  again  be- 
fore the  seventh  month,  notwithstanding  much  pains  on  the 
father's  part  to  induce  them.^ 

Conscious  imitation.  —  Gradually,  the  reflex  or  organic 
gurgling,  mi^^uring  and  crowing  vi^hich  characterize  the 
first  four  laonths  disappear.  The  extravagant  mouth 
formations  which  were  made  formerly,  when  one  talked 

1  PreYer,  Op.  cit..  Part  I,  p.  283.  For  further  discussion,  see  Baldwin, 
Mentally evelopment,  Vol.  I,  p.  I3ifr.;  also  King,  The  Psychology  of  Child 
Development t  pp.  46,  59. 


128  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

and  played  with  the  child,  are  seen  no  longer,  and  he  is 
beginning  to  make  movements  which  are  more  Hke  what 
we  mean  ordinarily  by  imitative  actions.  That  is,  they 
are  called  forth  by  perceptions  of  another  person's 
actions,  something  the  child  either  sees  or  hears.  He 
has  reached  the  stage  of  what  is  often  described  as 
"  conscious  imitation  "  in  which  the  stimulus  to  action  is 
a  mental  image. 

In  their  earliest  forms,  the  child's  mental  copies  are  only 
imperfect  reproductions  of  the  original  copies  ;  are  vague, 
indefinite,  largely  sensory  in  character,  but  having  the 
quality  of  vividness  and  the  power  to  excite  a  motor  out- 
put. Examples  of  mimetic  responses  to  these  early, 
crude,  sensory  images  are:  —  the  child  J.'s  protruding 
his  tongue  (234th  day)  as  he  watched  the  copy  which 
was  made  for  him ;  also  the  child  R.'s  imitating  shaking  a 
newspaper  to  make  it  rattle  (237th  day).  It  was  curious 
to  observe  that  while  R.  would  shake  the  newspaper  to 
make  it  rattle  after  another  person  had  shaken  it,  all 
efforts  to  get  the  child  to  clap  his  hands  together  failed, 
as  did  all  attempts  to  get  him  to  wave  the  hand  as  when 
one  salutes  by  a  "  bye-bye  "  wave  of  the  hand,  though 
the  movements  were  made  for  him  slowly  a  number  of 
times.^ 


>  The  wave  of  the  hand  in  making  the  "  bye-bye  "  salutation  is  a  baby 
accomplishment  always  looked  forward  to  with  interest  by  the  baby's 
friends.    R.  had  a  girl  friend  who  was  anxious  to  hasten  the  learning  of  this 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  IMITATION  1 29 

A  better  illustration  of  conscious  imitation  is  found  in 
a  note  made  near  the  end  of  R.'s  eighth  month  which 
reports,  "  that  the  child  tried  to  put  a  newspaper  over  his 
head  after  being  entertained  by  his  mother  holding  a 
newspaper  over  her  head,  sunbonnet  fashion,  and  playing 
peek-a-boo  with  him."  Another  observation  recorded 
in  the  latter  part  of  R.'s  ninth  month  was  that  the  child 
imitated  the  difficult  performance  of  picking  up  a  small 
tin  box,  throwing  it  down,  picking  it  up,  throwing  it, 
and  so  on.  In  order  to  quiet  the  child,  I  was  picking  up 
and  throwing  the  box  in  a  clownish  manner  on  the  bed 
beside  him.  For  some  reason,  the  performance  caught 
his  attention,  and  after  I  had  thrown  the  box  a  few  times, 
he  picked  it  up  and  half  tossed,  half  dropped  it.  The 
play  gave  him  great  pleasure,  and  it  was  kept  up  until 
we  each  had  thrown  the  box  by  turns  eighteen  times. 

At  first,  it  seemed  strange  that  the  child  should  try  to 
imitate  these  and  other  complicated  movements,  but 
would  not  attempt  such  simple  things  as  shaking  or 
waving  the  hand,  clapping  the  hands  together,  or  nodding 

particular  movement,  and  who  made  frequent  attempts  to  call  it  forth  dur- 
ing the  child's  tenth  and  eleventh  months.  Once,  in  the  tenth  month,  I 
thought  I  saw  a  feeble  shake  of  the  hand  in  response.  But  it  could  not 
be  called  out  again,  so  I  was  not  sure  ;  and  it  was  not  until  the  twelfth 
month  —  first  week  —  that  the  response  to  our  salutes  first  appeared  un- 
mistakably. Gradually,  it  grew  definite  and  prompt,  and  by  the  begin- 
ning of  the  second  year  the  hand  wave  in  answer  to  "  bye-bye  "  salutes 
was  under  good  control.  (See  Fig.  3,  Plate  3  for  snap-shot  of  the  child 
J.'s  first  imitative  "  bye-bye  "  wave  of  the  hand  —  twelfth  month.) 


I30  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

the  head.  It  did  not  seem  to  occur  to  the  child  that  our 
numerous  hand  and  arm  wavings  and  shakings,  and  head 
noddings  were  intended  as  copies  for  him  to  imitate. 
He  would  look  at  us  with  an  expression  of  curiosity,  but 
made  not  the  sHghtest  effort  to  repeat  what  we  did. 

This  suggests  that  it  is  not  always  the  simple  and  easy 
things  —  as  they  seem  to  us  —  that  are  tried,  but  rather 
those  that  strike  the  child's  interest,  perhaps,  because  of 
their  novelty.  Playing  peek-a-boo  with  a  newspaper 
over  one's  head,  or  throwing  a  box,  or  shaking  paper  to 
make  it  rattle  is  clearly  more  novel,  more  interesting  to 
the  child  than  waving  the  hand  in  salutation,  a  perform- 
ance rich  in  meaning  to  an  older  person,  but  meaning 
nothing  to  the  child. 

Preyer  makes  the  general  observation  that,  "  the  movements 
made  for  imitation  are  the  more  easily  imitated  correctly  the 
less  complicated  they  are. ' '  For  example,  his  boy  imitated  the 
simple  movement  of  opening  and  shutting  the  hand  better  than 
the  complicated  one  of  blowing  out  a  candle.^  But  this  is  not 
the  same  as  saying  the  simple  movements  are  the  ones  the  child 
selects  for  imitation.  It  seems,  on  the  contrary,  that  compH- 
cated  actions  —  within  certain  limitations,  to  be  snre  —  are  the 
more  likely  to  arouse  the  imitative  impulse  than  simple  ones. 
They  are  likely  to  be  more  interesting,  more  striking,  to  have 
more  spectacular  qualities,  which  enhance  tfTe  imitative  value 
of  an  action.  At  any  rate,  the  simple  and  easy  things  which 
the  child  sees  make  no  stronger  appeal  to  his  imitative  impulse 
than  the  complicated  and  difficult  ones. 

1  Op.  cit.y  Part  I,  p.  288f. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF   IMITATION  13I 

In  explanation  of  the  better  imitation  of  the  opening  and 
closing  the  hand,  Professor  Preyer  thinks  we  must  take  account 
of  the  element  of  heredity,  and  offers  the  doubtful  theory  of  the 
transmission  of  acquired  characters.  According  to  this  theory, 
which,  apparently,  Preyer  accepts,  each  of  the  countless  gen- 
erations of  the  child's  ancestors  had  opened  and  shut  the  hands 
numberless  times,  thus  acquiring  great  ease  and  skill  in  making 
that  movement ;  and  the  ease  and  skill  thus  acquired  have  been 
transmitted  from  generation  to  generation.  If  blowing  out 
candles  had  been  an  ancestral  activity  as  long  as  opening  and 
shutting  the  hand,  it  too  —  according  to  the  Lamarckians'  ac- 
count —  would  have  been  performed  successfully  and  grace- 
fully after  Preyer* s  child  had  tried  it  a  few  times. 

Imitation  of  other  persons'  bodily  movements.  —  A 
notable  advance  in  the  imitative  function  is  in  the  ap- 
pearance of  rough  imitations  of  others*  bodily  move- 
ments —  like  nodding  the  head,  shaking  the  hand,  hold- 
ing the  head  on  one  side  —  which  at  an  earlier  period,  as 
we  have  just  seen,  aroused  nothing  in  the  way  of  an  imi- 
tative response.  In  the  earlier  months,  it  was  not  the 
hand  or  head  movement  as  such  which  was  imitated,  but 
the  thing  done,  e.  g.^  shaking  the  newspaper  or  toy  to 
make  a  noise ;  or  in  the  case  of  throwing  the  tin  box, 
the  interest  centered  in  throwing-the-box ;  so  that  —  not 
the  motion  of  the  hand  —  was  imitated. 

But  after  a  time,  say  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  first 
year,  the  child  begins  to  imitate  movements  of  parts  of 
the  body,  like  shaking  the  >hand  or  .nodding  the  head. 
This  probably  marks  an  advance  in  the  child's  perception 


132  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

of  points  of  similarity  between  himself  and  other  persons  ; 
also  in  control  over  the  separate  parts  of  his  own  body, 
and  imitative  nodding  and  hand-shaking  have  to  wait  for 
an  advance  in  those  respects  before  they  can  occur. 

Memory  images  as  stimuli  to  imitative  reactions. — 
Prior  to  the  last  quarter  of  the  first  year,  imitation  occurs 
only  in  the  presence  of  an  objective  stimulus.  The  things 
imitated  are  immediately  present  movements.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  first  year,  memory  images  begin  to  act 
as  stimuli  to  imitative  movements.  The  child  recalls, 
after  a  brief  interval,  his  former  activities  and  repeats 
them.  For  example,  the  sight  of  a  hair-brush  revives 
the  image  of  brushing  his  hair,  and  when  given  a  brush 
he  rubs  his  head  with  it  as  he  had  on  the  preceding  day. 
The  child  J.,  in  his  twelfth  month,  remembered,  after  an 
interval  of  two  days,  that  a  marble  was  to  be  put  in  a  tin 
can,  and  that  the  can  was  then  to  be  shaken ;  that  a  can- 
lid  goes  on  a  can;  that  blocks  were  to  be  set  on  his 
head;  and  that  they  were  to  be  piled  on  top  of  one 
another. 

Somewhat  later,  say  in  the  fifteenth  month,  the  child 
recalls  and  imitates  movements  which  he  has  not  seen 
for  two  or  three  weeks ;  and,  in  some  cases,  movements 
to  which  he  did  not  react  imitatively  when  they  were 
first  witnessed.  It  was  as  if  it  required  the  intervening 
weeks  for  the  effect  of  the  stimulus  to  percolate  through 
the   nervous  system   and   touch   off  the   proper  motor 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  IMITATION  1 33 

centers ;  as  if  the  result  of  the  stimulus,  which  was  not 
strong  enough  to  excite  action  on  its  first  occurrence,  was 
absorbed  and  finally  worked  itself  out  in  action. 

Purposive  imitation.  —  In  the  closing  months  of  the 
first  year,  the  element  of  purposiveness  was  noticed,  for 
the  first  time,  in  R.'s  imitative  reactions.  In  former 
months,  such  responses  as  rubbing  the  head  with  a 
brush,  or  shaking  the  hand  seemed  more  Hke  rough 
shadow-pictures  of  what  another  was  doing  than  ex- 
pressions which  belonged  to  the  child.  The  imitative 
reactions  were  automatic,  mechanical  in  appearance. 
The  child  was  Hke  a  machine  that  was  being  played 
upon.  Now,  his  mimetic  responses  seem  more  like  pur- 
posive, voluntary  acts  of  the  child's.  Occasionally,  how- 
ever, there  appeared,  even  to  the  end  of  the  third  year, 
instances  of  what  one  may  describe  as  unconscious, 
shadow-Hke  imitations  such  as  were  dominant  at  an 
earlier  period.  They  are  like  the  reflex  yawning  of 
older  persons ;  or  like  one's  unconsciously  keeping  time 
with  music  by  patting  with  the  foot.  One  instance  of 
this  was  noted  in  R.'s  thirty-fifth  month,  as  follows : 
The  child  stood  watching  me  as  I  brushed  dust  from  my 
shoulders.  He  at  once  began  to  make  random  strokes 
toward  his  own  shoulder,  but  seemed  wholly  unconscious 
of  what  he  was  doing.  This  was  an  instance  of  "  un- 
conscious "  as  distinguished  from  "  purposive "  imita- 
tion. 


134  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

Rapid  growth  of  the  imitative  impulse.  —  Beginning 
with  the  first  quarter  of  the  second  year  the  imitative 
impulse  grows  stronger  rapidly  until  it  seems  that  the 
child  is  above  all  things  imitative.  Imitation  becomes 
the  predominant  feature  of  all  the  child's  behavior. 
Thus,  one  note  from  R.'s  record  for  the  fifteenth  month 
reads,  *'  Imitation  is  supreme  in  all  the  child's  activities. 
He  seems  to  have  an  irresistible  impulse  to  imitate  every- 
thing he  sees  others  doing,  particularly  if  it  concerns  him 
in  any  way,  as  patting  his  cheeks,  pulling  his  toes,  comb- 
ing his  hair."  ^ 

*  At  this  point,  may  be  described  two  experiments  with  J.,  the  results 
of  which  illustrate  an  interesting  stage  in  the  development  of  the  imitative 
function ;  namely,  that  in  which  the  child  imitates  only  those  actions  which 
touch  him  closely.  When  J.  was  in  the  last  week  of  his  first  year,  I  made 
the  experiment  of  first  placing  a  hat  on  my  head  a  number  of  times,  then 
gave  the  hat  to  the  child  thinking  that  he  would  try  to  put  the  hat  on  his 
head.  But  instead  he  tried  to  put  the  hat  on  my  head.  After  playing 
thus  for  a  few  minutes  —  long  enough  to  make  sure  that  he  would  not  try 
to  imitate  the  movement  by  trying  to  place  the  hat  on  his  own  head  —  I 
placed  the  hat  on  his  head,  then  handed  it  to  him.  He  at  once  put  it  on 
his  head.  (See  Fig.  i,  Plate  III  for  snap-shot  taken  at  the  time.)  A  day 
or  so  afterward,  the  child's  mother,  while  playing  with  him,  placed  a  block 
on  her  own  head,  then  handed  the  block  to  the  child  to  see  if  he  would  try 
to  put  it  on  his  own  head.  But  he  only  laughed  and  gave  the  block  a 
toss.  Then  she  placed  the  block  on  the  baby's  head  and  left  it.  When  it 
fell  off,  after  resting  on  his  head  a  few  seconds,  the  child  picked  it  up  and 
tried  to  get  it  to  rest  on  his  head  as  it  had  when  placed  there  by  his 
mother.  (See  Fig  2,  Plate  III  for  snap-shot  of  the  child  as  he  was  try- 
ing to  get  the  block  to  rest  on  his  head.)  Why  the  child  failed  to  respond 
imitatively  when  other  persons  placed  articles  — the  hat  in  one  case,  the 
block  in  the  other  —  on  their  own  heads,  and  yet  responded  so  promptly 
when  the  articles  were  placed  on  the  child's  head,  is  an  interesting  prob- 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  IMITATION  1 35 

Spontaneity  and  promptness  of  the  imitative  response.  — 
Prior  to  the  second  quarter  of  R.'s  second  year  the 
child's  imitative  responses  were  more  or  less  elicited,  the 
things  which  were  imitated  were  forced  upon  the  child's 
attention ;  it  required  some  effort  to  get  him  to  imitate. 
In  the  sixteenth  month,  the  child's  imitative  actions  be- 
came noticeably  spontaneous.  "  There  is  no  longer  need," 
so  one  note  for  that  month  reads,  "  to  coax  and  appeal 
and  devise  ways  and  means  to  get  oneself  imitated  as  was 
the  case  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh  months,  e.g.^  when  try- 
ing to  get  the  child  to  imitate  a  wave  of  the  hand  or  a 
nod  of  the  head.  Now,  imitative  actions  bubble  forth 
even  when  least  expected."  For  example,  on  a  certain 
day  (sixteenth  month)  the  child  suddenly  stopped  his 
play,  held  up  his  hand  as  if  holding  a  cigar  and  made 
puffing  sounds  as  if  smoking  in  imitation  of  one  who  at 
the  time  was  smoking,  as  he  talked  to  other  members  of 
the  family,  but  was  paying  no  attention  to  the  child. 
Sully  relates  that  when  his  boy  was  sixteen  months  old 
"  he  spontaneously  imitated,  in  a  rough  fashion,  the  puff- 
ing sound  produced  by  his  father  when  indulging  in  the 
solace  of  tobacco."  ^ 

In  R.'s  sixteenth  month  there  was  also  an  advance  in 

lem  in  infant  psychology,  for  which  the  writer  has  no  solution  except  the 
broad  one  tha,t  the  child,  at  that  time,  did  not  notice  sufficiently  the  gen- 
eral similarity  between  himself  and  other  persons  to  prompt  trying  to  do 
what  he  saw  them  doing, 

J  Studies  of  Childhood,  p.  417.  /^ 


136  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

/ 

the  promptness  of  the  imitative  response  to  the  copies 

set  for  him.  The  imitative  apparatus  seemed  always 
ready  for  immediate  action;  in  fact,  waiting  for  the 
occasion.  Nor  was  it  necessary  to  teach  the  child  the 
action  or  to  repeat  the  copy  over  and  over  before  getting 
a  response.  The  passage  from  impression  to  motor  dis- 
charge was  smooth,  and  action  was  immediate  in  most 
cases. 

Dramatic  imitation.  —  Early  in  the  third  year,  one 
may  observe  that  the  child's  imitative  behavior  becomes 
more  dramatic  in  character,  and  that  it  shows  a  freer 
play  of  imagination  than  previously.  To  illustrate :  On 
the  second  day  of  R.'s  twenty-fifth  month,  I  gave  the 
child  a  rag-doll,  made  by  tying  a  knot  in  one  corner  of 
a  handkerchief,  which  he  laid  in  a  baby  crib,  and  then 
began  to  beg  for  a  nursing-bottle  so  he  could  give  the 
doll  its  "  bettie "  (breakfast).  This  imitative  play  was 
suggested,  no  doubt,  by  seeing  his  infant  brother  laid  in 
the  crib  and  given  his  nursing-bottle  at  the  same  time. 
The  play  with  the  rag-doll  was  repeated  three  days  later 
with  the  variation  that  on  the  latter  day  he  wanted  a 
blanket  to  spread  over  the  doll.  A  few  days  later,  he 
called  for  toast  which  he  fed  to  a  rubber-doll  by  pushing 
it  into  the  doll's  imaginary  mouth.  On  the  twelfth  day 
of  the  month,  he  brought  me  a  handkerchief  saying, 
"  doih,"  meaning  that  he  wanted  a  knot  tied  in  the  hand- 
kerchief.    This  I  did.     He  then  laid  the  doll  on  the 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  IMITATION  137 

floor,  and  ran  to  his  mother  calling  for  a  "  batie " 
(blanket)  to  spread  over  the  doll.  Another  instance  of 
solicitude  for  the  doll's  welfare  appeared  a  few  days  later 
when  he  called  for  "  mezie  "  (medicine)  and  a  particular 
bottle  from  which  he  had  frequently  seen  hquid  poured 
and  given  to  his  infant  brother. 

Again,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  thirty-second  month, 
imitative  play  with  a  doll  was  noticed  on  two  or  three 
occasions.  I  transcribe  the  notes  describing  one  in- 
stance :  "  R.  lays  the  doll  on  the  porch  step,  saying, '  go 
tseep ' ;  then  kisses  the  doll ;  then  takes  the  doll's  thumb 
and  puts  in  its  imaginary  mouth,  saying,  *  hiz  smum ' 
(here's  your  thumb) ;  then, '  goo-bye,'  *  wate  up,'  '  tsum,' 
and  puts  doll's  thumb  in  its  mouth  again ;  then,  *  go  tu 
tseep,  doUie,  goo-bye,'  waving  his  hand ;  then,  *  hi  tis 
smum,  hi  tis  choo-choo,'  as  he  laid  his  toy  engine  in  the 
doll's  arms.  He  then  went  away  leaving  the  doll  to  take 
its  imaginary  nap." 

Imitation  of  fine  movements,  —  An  examination  of  R.'s 
record  for  the  months  prior  to  the  last  quarter  of  the 
second  year  shows  how  large,  open,  and  easily  seen  were 
the  movements  selected  for  imitation ;  and  also  that  the 
reproduction  usually  was  only  a  rough  approximation  to 
the  copy.  In  the  last  months  of  the  second  year,  a 
marked  advance  was  noted  in  the  child's  ability  to  see 
and  imitate  relatively  fine  or  small  movements.  For 
example,  on  a  certain  day  near  the  middle  of  the  twenty- 


138         FIRST   STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

third  month  the  child  imitatea  putting  a  pencil  to  the 
lips  to  dampen  it ;  and  a  few  days  afterward  he  punched 
and  picked  with  a  nail-file  at  his  finger  nails  after  watch- 
ing a  person  using  a  nail-file.  The  attempts  to  copy  the 
fine  movements,  which  were  selected  for  imitation,  as  a 
rule,  were  crude,  excepting  the  dampening  of  the  pencil, 
which  was  almost  a  perfect  copy  on  the  first  trial.  But 
rough  as  they  were  they  gave  evidence  of  a  marked 
improvement  in  the  coordination  of  eye  and  hand  move- 
ments. / 

Imitation  of  complex  actions.  —  In  order  to  test  R.'s 
ability  (twenty-fifth  iponth)  to  see  and  repeat  a  relatively 
complex  act,  I  laid  L  ball  in  the  bowl  of  a  tablespoon, 
gave  the  ball  a  toss/and  struck  it  as  it  fell.  Here  was  an 
act  consisting  of  three  pretty  distinct  parts.  The  ques- 
tion was,  Would /the  child  see  all  these  parts  and  try  to 
repeat  them  ?  Me  put  the  ball  in  the  bowl  of  the  spoon, 
gave  it  a  little  toss  or  shake,  but  did  nothing  which  one 
could  call  an  iipitation  of  the  third  part  of  the  perform- 
ance, i.  e.,  striking  at  the  ball  as  it  fell.  And  it  should 
be  said  —  the  whole  performance  was  very  imperfect,  no 
part  being  done  wrtji  skill  or  speed. 

Seven  months  afterward,  I  made  the  same  experiment. 
As  soon  as  I  tossed  the  ball,  he  said,  "  Wadu  han,"  /.  e., 
R.'s  hand  —  he  wanted  to  toss  the  ball.  He  put  the  ball 
in  the  spoon,  tossed  the  ball  eight  or  ten  feet  high,  but 
made  no  attempt  to  strike  it  as  it  fell.     After  watching 


DEVELOPMENT  OF   IMITATION  139 

me  tossing  and  striking  the  ball  a  few  times,  when  I  let 
him  have  the  ball  and  spoon  he  did  give  the  spoon  a 
lateral  motion  after  tossing  the  ball,  but  after  it  had  gone 
out  of  his  reach  —  even  behind  him  and  had  fallen  on  the 
ground.  That  is,  he  did  not  watch  the  ball  after  tossing 
it  and  try  to  strike  it  as  it  fell ;  and  there  was  no  attempt 
to  coordinate  the  direction  of  his  eyes  and  the  movement 
of  his  arm  or  hand. 

The  fact  that,  as  the  child  gets  older,  his  imitative 
movements  approach  more  nearly  his  copies  was  shown 
in  the  improvement  R.  made  in  imitating  razor  strop- 
ping. Thus,  in  the  twenty-sixth  month,  this  imitative 
action  was  a  feeble  holding  the  strop  and  striking  it  with 
a  pencil  or  stick  at  right  angles.  There  was  none  of  the 
back  and  forth  motion  one  usually  makes  when  stropping 
a  razor.  In  the  twenty-ninth  month,  the  idea  of  rubbing 
the  pencil  on  the  strop  was  clearly  present,  though  he 
rubbed  the  pencil  in  one  direction  only.  In  the  last 
month  of  the  third  year,  the  idea  was  clearly  present 
that  the  stick,  or  whatever  he  was  using  in  imitating 
razor  stropping,  should  be  rubbed  back  and  forth,  though 
the  motion  was  made  awkwardly. 

Improvement  of  the  child's  imitative  acts  goes  along 

with,  increasing  ability  to  see  and  hear,  with  improvement 

in  muscular  control,  and  with  better  co  jrdination  between 

muscles  and  sense  organs.     The  clearer,  more  definite, 

id  compjete  his  ide^  of  his  copies  become,  and  the 


140  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

better  the  coordination  between  his  ideas  and  his  hand 
movements,  the  better,  the  more  accurate  become,  in 
general,  the  child's  imitative  actions.  Still,  it  should  be 
said  that  many  of  the  imperfections  of  a  child's  early 
imitative  movements,  e.g.^  when  learning  to  catch  a  ball, 
are  due,  not  so  much  to  an  imperfect  image  of  how 
the  thing  will  look  when  it  is  done,  but  to  the  vagueness 
of  his  idea  of  going  about  it,  e.g.,  how  to  hold  his  hands 
and  how  to  seize  the  ball  when  it  is  tossed  to  him.^ 

Imitative  actions  as  means  to  desired  ends.  —  Prior  to 
R.'s  third  year,  actions  were  imitated  because  they  were 
interesting  in  themselves;  e.g.,  brushing  the  walk  and 
driving  nails  after  watching  another  person  doing  these 
things.  His  interest  was  in  the  act  itself.  Early  in  the 
third  year,  we  noted,  for  the  first  time,  imitative  acts 
which  were  performed,  not  so  much  because  the  copies 
in  themselves  were  interesting,  but  because  they  were 
useful  as  means  to  desired  ends.  The  child  sees  a  person 
doing  a  certain  thing  to  gain  a  certain  end:  when  he 

1  The  child  R.'s  learning  to  blow  a  whistle  imitatively  furnished  a  good 
illustration  of  the  application  of  an  old  accomplishment  to  a  new  use,  as 
follows :  —  At  first  the  child  could  not  get  any  sound  out  of  the  whistle, 
but  made  a  squealing  sound  as  he  held  the  whistle  to  his  mouth.  Then 
his  mother  said  to  him,  "  Blow  as  you  do  when  you  blow  feathers,"  which 
he  did.  He  then  placed  the  whistle  to  his  mouth,  used  the  feather-blowing 
combination  of  muscles,  and  on  the  first  trial  produced  a  feeble  whistling 
sound.  He  had  hit  upon  the  right  method,  was  greatly  pleased  by  the 
feat,  and  practiced  until  he  could  blow  the  whistle  to  the  abundant 
satisfaction  of  his  hearers. 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  IMITATION  I4I 

wants  to  brin^  about  the  same  result,  he  goes  about  it  in 
the  same  way.  For  example,  R.  saw  his  mother  use  a 
hat-pin  to  get  a  piece  of  cardboard  out  of  a  box  into 
which  the  child  had  pushed  it  and  had  gotten  it  fast. 
When,  on  the  following  day,  he  again  got  the  card  fast, 
he  asked  for,  and  was  given  the  hat-pin  to  use  in  getting 
the  card.  As  soon  as  he  got  the  card,  he  laid  the  pin 
aside,  and  continued  the  play  with  the  card  showing,  it 
seemed,  that  it  was  not  merely  the  idea  of  using  the  pin 
in  the  new  way  which  prompted  him  to  call  for  it. 

Imitation  in  order  to  improve  one's  ideas.  —  We  have 
seen  that  sometimes  an  action  is  imitated  because  the 
action  itself  is  interesting  to  the  child;  and  that  at  other 
times,  the  child  imitates  an  action  as  a  means  to  a  desired 
end.  In  the  latter  part  of  R.'s  third  year,  were  first  no- 
ticed imitative  acts  which  were  perfornied  mainly  for  the 
purpose  of  giving  his  ideas  of  things  observed  better 
definition,  of  enriching  and  perfecting  his  images.  To 
illustrate  from  adult  life :  a  grown  person  who  is  watch- 
ing, for  the  first  time,  a  person  skating,  or  striking  a  golf 
ball,  or  "  serving  "  in  a  game  of  tennis,  says,  "  I  want  to 
know  exactly  what  the  act  is,  how  it  *  feels '  to  do  the 
'  thing,'  "  and  realizes  that  until  he  has  "  felt "  the  act,  he 
doesn't  really  know  what  it  is  like.  In  Hke  manner  the 
child  wishes  to  repeat  actions  he  sees  in  order  to  learn 
better  what  they  are,  and  how  it  feels  to  do  them.  A  few 
instances  selected  from  my  notes  will  illustrate  the  point 


142  FIRST   STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

On  a  certain  day,  in  R's  thirty-fifth  month,  when  I  was 
writing  on  a  typewriter,  the  child  stood  by  watching 
quietly  for  a  few  moments,  then  cried,  "  Wa  (R.)  do  'at 
now,  play  papa  piano  "  (piano).  On  another  day,  same 
month,  after  watching  us  weigh  a  certain  article,  he  got 
the  scales  and  busied  himself  for  half  an  hour"  weighing  " 
dolls,  "  choo-choos,"  a  toy  horse,  and  other  similar  arti- 
cles. On  another  occasion,  after  watching  me  writing 
with  pen  and  using  a  blotter,  he  got  a  pencil  and  paper, 
scratched  over  the  paper,  then  called  for  a  blotter  which 
he  pressed  on  the  scratches  he  had  made.  Another  imi- 
tative act  which  probably  belonged  to  his  class  was  mak- 
ing motions  as  if  pulling  an  imaginary  mustache. 

Impulse  to  imitate  new  actions.  —  Observers  of  infancy 
find  that  the  novelty  of  a  performance  enhances  its  imita- 
tive value  in  the  child's  eyes.  And  this  explains,  in 
large  part,  the  fact  that  children  imitate  male  members 
of  the  household  more  than  they  do  the  female,  except 
when  the  latter  are  engaged  in  doing  things  which  are 
new  to  the  child.  The  things  which  the  child  sees  his 
father,  e.  g.,  doing,  and  which  are  selected  as  copies,  are 
relatively  more  novel  to  the  child  than  the  things  which 
he  sees  others,  e.  g.,  his  mother,  doing.  The  things  his 
mother  does  have  greater  sameness  from  day  to  day. 
Her  round  of  household  duties  discloses  fewer  new  things 
to  the  child's  curiosity.  Lacking  the  quality  of  novelty 
they  make  little  appeal  to  the  child's  imitative  impulse.    On 


DEVELOPMENT  OF   IMITATION  I43 

the  other  hand,  the  child  has  seen  his  father  driving  a  nail, 
but  not  often.  So  when  he  does  see  that  new  action,  he 
straightway  tries  to  mimic  its  more  easily  observed  fea- 
tures. So  with  using  a  saw,  stropping  a  razor,  sitting 
with  the  legs  crossed,  smoking,  and  other  distinctively 
male  accomplishments. 

We  have  just  said  that  httle  children  tend  to  mimic  the 
father  more  than  other  members  of  the  family.  My  rec- 
ord of  R.'s  imitative  behavior  contains  a  curious  excep- 
tion to  this  general  statement,  as  follows :  In  the  latter 
part  of  his  third  year,  R.  developed  an  irresistible  impulse 
to  imitate  his  baby  brother  J.  Thus,  if  the  baby  walked 
on  his  hands  and  feet,  R.  straightway  imitated  him;  if  J. 
stood  against  the  wall  to  support  himself,  R.  too  would 
lean  against  the  wall ;  or  if  J.  worked  his  way  around  to 
a  door-knob  and  tugged  at  it,  R.  would  push  J.  aside  and 
begin  tugging  at  the  knob  himself.  Often  R.  would  fol- 
low J.  about  the  house  for  an  hour  doing  as  nearly  as 
possible  everything  J.  did.  If  J.  went  to  the  box  con- 
taining their  toys,  and  began  to  take  them  out  of  the  box, 
R.  got  down  beside  him  and  mimicked  him  even  to  the 
cries  which  J.  made  as  he  picked  up  one  toy  after  another. 
So  strong  was  his  impulse  to  do  what  J.  was  doing  that 
he  would  drop  one  of  his  own  favorite  toys  to  take  some- 
thing J.  had,  and  try  to  do  with  it  what  he  had  seen  J. 
doing.  As  he  did  this  over  and  over  again,  one  could 
not  help  thinking  that  the  imitative  impulse  is  at  the 


144  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

basis  of  much  of  the  so-called  greed  and  selfishness,  and 
possibly  envy,  as  they  show  themselves  in  little  children. 
R.  did  not  take  toys  away  from  J.,  because,  primarily,  he 
did  not  want  J.  to  have  them,  but  because  he  wanted  to 
do  with  them  what  J.  was  doing.  That  is,  a  strong  im- 
pulse to  imitate  was  the  basis  of  his  mistreatment  —  en- 
tirely unintentional,  to  be  sure  —  of  J.  Imitation  in  such 
cases  shades  gradually  into  greed,  selfishness,  envy,  and 
related  impulses. 

Influence  of  outdoors  living  upon  imitative  conduct.  — 
It  is  evident,  on  first  thought,  that  the  character  of  a 
child's  imitative  behavior  is  determined  largely  by  his 
environment.  The  impulse  to  imitate  is  general,  but  the 
particular  forms  in  which  it  shows  itself  are  determined 
by  the  particular  sensations  and  ideas  which  his  environ- 
ment furnishes.  And  with  reference  to  the  influence  of 
indoor  and  outdoor  Hfe,  it  will  be  found  that  the  child 
while  living  indoors,  with  his  sphere  of  activity  restricted 
relatively,  and  in  closer  relations  with  members  of  the 
family  —  and  so  having  their  actions  more  narrowly  im- 
pressed upon  his  attention  —  will  be  found  to  be  more  imi- 
tative in  general,  and  of  other  persons'  actions  in  particu- 
lar,  than  when  the  child  leads  a  free,  outdoor  life  —  run- 
ning among  trees,  playing  in  sand  or  dirt,  throwing  and 
running  after  balls,  piling  toys  in  wagons,  running  with 
them,  and  the  like.  The  outdoor  life  means,  of  course, 
less  dependence  for  entertainment  upon  the  actions  and 


DEVELOPMENT  OF  IMITATION  I45 

association  of  older  persons,  and  the  child  imitates  more. 
The  child  does  not  cease  to  be  imitative  when  he  passes 
to  the  outdoor  hfe,  but  he  becomes  more  independent. 
And  one  may  say,  in  a  broad  way,  that  under  the  condi- 
tions of  modern  civilized  life,  in  temperate  zones,  educa- 
tion which  comes  from  imitating  one's  elders  is  adminis- 
tered most  economically  in  winter,  and  that  education 
through  self-activity  is  realized  most  fully  in  the  warmer 
seasons  of  the  year. 


CHAPTER  VI 

COLOR 

Color  discrimination.  —  When  considering  the  subject 
of  the  earhest  color  discrimination,  it  is  necessary  to  dis- 
tinguish two  questions  which  are  often  confused.  One 
of  these  is  physiological,  and  relates  primarily  to  the 
development  of  the  visual  apparatus,  the  maturing  of 
the  peripheral  organ,  the  nerves  and  the  brain  centers 
concerned ;  that  is,  asks  when  is  the  pfiysical  apparatus 
ready  for  the  sensing  of  color  differences  ?  The  other 
question  is  psychological ;  namely,  when  is  the  child  first 
dimly  conscious  of  difference,  that  "  this  "  is  not  "  that," 
when  in  the  presence  of  two  different  colors  ?  That  is,  it 
is  conceivable  that  a  child  should  react  reflexly  in  a  char- 
acteristic manner  to  a  given  color,  before  the  visual  stim- 
ulus arouses  sensations  of  color.  So  when  one  is  asked, 
Can  a  child  of  a  given  age  discriminate  colors  ?  it  is  im- 
portant to  know  whether  the  inquiry  refers  to  the  child's 
physiological  reactions,  or  to  his  ability  really  to  dis- 
criminate, which  latter  involves  rudimentary  memory  and 
judgment. 

Observers  have  differed  widely  in  fixing  the  earliest 
date  at  which  their  subjects,  individual  children,  could 
distinguish    colors ;    that    is,   were    conscious    of    color 

146 


COLOR  147 

differences.  For  example,  Preyer  is  confident  that  his 
child  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  months  recognized  the 
quality  of  some  colors,  "  for  the  dehght  in  striking 
colors  was  manifest."  ^  Mrs.  Moore  writes  concerning 
her  child's  ability  to  experience  qualities  of  visual 
sensations, 

"  On  the  thirty-first  day  a  white  surface,  receiving 
no  direct  illumination,  acted  as  a  stimulus,  also  a  blue 
surface.  On  the  thirty-fourth  day  a  blue  and  white 
object  and  the  golden  brown  curtain  arrested  his  at- 
tention. On  the  fifty-third  day  a  plaid  waist  in.  which 
scarlet  was  the  predominating  color  interested  the  child. 
In  the  sixteenth  week  he  looked  repeatedly  at  his  pink 
dress.  .  .  .  He  showed  that  he  recognized  in  his 
second  year,  without  having  received  any  instructions, 
the  following  colors :  pink  (eighty-fourth  week),  yel- 
low (eighty- ninth'^week),  black '^(ninety-fourth  week), 
blue  (ninety-seventh  week),  red  (ninety-eighth  week), 
hght  brown  and  gray  (ninety-ninth  week)."^  (The 
sense  in  which  the  word  "  recognized "  is  used,  un- 
fortunately, is  not  entirely  clear.)  Miss  Shinn  writes, 
"  No  trace  of  color  sense  has  ever  been  detected 
within  the  first  fortnight  of  life,  f^o  certain  evidence 
of  it  even  within  the  first   year."  ^' 


^  Preyer,  Op.  cit..  Part  I,  p.  7. 

2  The  Mental  Development  of  a   Child,  p.  53. 

*  Biography  of  a  Baby,  p.  43.  .  / 


148  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

Differences  like  those  just  noted  on  the  part  of  com- 
petent persons  who  have  depended  largely  on  general 
observation  as  distinguished  from  observation  under 
carefully  controlled  conditions  call  for  the  experimen- 
talist. So  the  question  of  the  earliest  color  discrimi- 
nation has  been  the  subject  of  a  number  of  experimen- 
tal studies,  none  of  which,  however,  it  seems  to  the 
writer,  has  been  entirely  successful.  Baldwin  in  his 
Mental  Development^  describes  and  critically  considers 
four  stages  in  the  development  of  methods  of  investi- 
gating color  discrimination,  his  own  method  being  the 
fourth.  "  The  first  experiments,"  he  writes,  •'  consisted 
in  showing  a  child  various  colors  and  requesting  him  to 
name  them."  Baldwin's  criticism  of  this  method  is:  — 
"  this  experiment  involves  no  less  than  four  different 
questions,  and  the  results  give  absolutely  no  clue  to  their 
analysis.  It  involves  (i)  the  child's  distinguishing  differ- 
ent colors  simultaneously  displayed  before  it,  i.  e.y  the 
complete  development  of  the  child's  color  sensation  ap- 
paratus ;  (2)  The  child's  ability  to  recognize  or  identify  a 
color  after  having  seen  it  once ;  (3)  An  association  be- 
tween the  child's  color-seeing  and  word-hearing  and 
speaking  memories,  by  which  the  name  is  brought  up ; 
(4)  Equally  ready  facility  in  the  pronunciation  of  the 
various  color  names  which  the  child  recognizes."  The 
results  obtained  by  this  method,  Baldwin  properly 
» Vol.  I,  p.  39flF. 


COLOR  149 

regards  as  worthless  so  far  as  the  problem  of  the  ear- 
liest perceptions  of  color  differences  is  concerned.  It 
is  only  fair  to  add  that  Preyer  who  used  this  method 
realized  its  inadequacy.  ^ 

In  order  to  avoid  the  objection  that  children  know 
many  color  words  which  they  cannot  speak  and  refuse 
to  try,  a  second  method  was  employed  which  consisted 
in  naming  colors  to  the  child  and  asking  him  to  pick 
out  the  corresponding  color.  This  method  was  still 
open  to  the  criticism  "  that  colors  might  be  distinguished 
before  the  word  names  are  learned  or  that  color  words 
might  be  interchanged  or  conlused  by  the  child."  Third, 
it  was  proposed  to  show  the  child  a  colored  card  and 
ask  him  to  pick  out  one  hke  it  from  a  number  of  col- 
ored cards.  But,  as  Baldwin  points  out,  this  method 
does  not  test  ability  to  distinguish  colors  so  much  as 
the  ability  to  recognize  a  color  which  has  been  once 
seen.  It  was  evident  that  none  of  these  three  methods 
would  give  an  answer  to  the  question,  when  does  the 
child  first  get  the  different  color  sensations  and  in  what 
order?  Some  method  must  be  devised  which  does 
not  depend  upon  the  child's  knowledge  of  language 
and  which  does  not  involve  a  direct  appeal  to  memory. 
Baldwin  devised  and  experimented  with  a  method 
which  consisted  essentially  in  placing  before  the  child 
within  reaching   distance   pieces  of    paper  of    different 

»  Preyer,  Op.  cit.,  Part  I,  p.  yfif. 


I50  FIRST   STEPS   IN   MENTAL   GROWTH 

colors  and  recording  the  number  of  times  each  color  was 
reached  for  and  refused.  The  method,  it  will  be  ob- 
served at  once,  can  be  used  much  earlier  than  any  of 
the  first  three  described  above.  It  can  be  used  as  soon 
as  the  child  has  fully  developed  the  instinct  to  reach 
for  things  placed  before  it ;  as  early  as  the  fourth  month 
in  many  cases.  For  that  reason  alone  it  is  a  decided 
advance  over  those  used  by  Preyer  and  Binet. 

Baldwin  began  his  experiments  in  his  child's  ninth 
month,  and  his  results  are  full  of  interest.  But  one  may 
doubt  that  the  method  is  adequate  as  a  means  of  deter- 
mining the  main  question  at  issue,  and  the  thing  he  set 
out  to  determine:  namely,  when  does  the  child  get 
the  different  color  sensations  and  in  what  order  ?  Does 
not  Baldwin's  method  test  color  preferences  rather  than 
color  discrimination  ?  Does  it  not  test  the  child's  interest 
in  or  liking  for  the  different  colors  rather  than  his 
ability  to  discriminate  them  ?  Indeed,  •*  attractiveness  " 
is  the  word  Baldwin  used  in  reporting  the  results.  * 
In  short,  it  does  not  appear  that  the  question,  when 
does  a  child  begin  to  distinguish  colors,  when  does  he 
begin  to  be  conscious  of  color  differences,  has  been 
answered  by  Baldwin's  method,  or  by  subsequent  ob- 
servers so  far  as  the  writer  knows ;  ^  and  one  may  se- 

»  op.  cit.,  p.  53. 

'  See   Schallenbarger's    review   of    Baldwin's    experiments   in   Amer, 
your,  of  Psy.,  Vol.  VIII.,  p.  560. 


COLOR  151 

riously  doubt  that  the  question  can  be  answered  by  the 
experimental  method  as  ordinarily  conceived.  If  ex- 
periment can  be  applied  at  all  to  the  question,  we  shall 
have  to  devise  a  method  that  can  be  used  in  the 
very  early  weeks.  For  it  seems  likely  that  many  colors 
are  distinguished  in  the  first  few  weeks.  One  can  hardly 
doubt  that  the  normal  child  dfstinguishes,  say  blue  and 
yellow,  almost  as  soon  as  he  distinguishes  light  and 
darkness.  And  even  with  carefully  devised  experiments, 
the  possibility  that  all  apparent  early  color  discrimina- 
tions are  in  fact  brightness  discriminations  will  throw 
doubt  upon  all  results  whatever  method  is  used. 

The  power  to  see  color  differences,  like  most  other  powers, 
is  very  feeble  and  uncertain  at  first,  and  is  developed  and  per- 
fected only  after  months  and  years  of  practice.  So  it  appears 
that  when  one  is  asked,  can  the  child  —  say  three  months  old  — 
yet  distinguish  colors?  one  may  ask,  what  colors?  What 
degree  of  perfection  in  distinguishing  is  meant  ?  If  one 
means,  is  the  child's  mental  state  when  gazing  on  yellow  dif- 
ferent from  his  mental  state  when  surrounded  by  blue?  is 
there,  perhaps,  a  vague  awareness  that  the  mental  condition 
in  the  presence  of  yellow  differs  from  that  in  the  presence  of 
blue?  the  answer  would  be  "Yes."  But  if  one  means,  does 
he  distinguish  color  as  well  as  the  trained  adult  ?  the  answer 
of  course,  is  *'  No."  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  Miss 
Shinn  means  a  well-developed  power  of  color  discrimination 
when  she  says,  '<  There  is  no  certain  evidence  of  color  sense 
within  the  first  year." 

Teaching  the  child  R.  color  names.  —  The  first  attempt 


152  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

to  teach  R.  color  names  was  in  his  twenty-fourth  month 
when  I  showed  him  red,  green,  and  purple  cards  —  one 
of  each  color  —  telling  him  the  color  of  each  card  as  I 
gave  it  to  him.  He  remembered  the  names  for  a  second 
or  so,  but  soon  got  them  confused.  A  number  of  times 
in  this  month,  I  also  told  him  the  color  of  two  note- 
books —  one  red,  the  other  black  —  but  he  was  unable 
on  the  second  day  of  his  third  year  to  name  the  colors 
of  the  books  correctly  every  time.  Sometimes  he 
pointed  to  the  black  one  saying,  "  wid,"  and  to  the  red, 
saying,  "batk."  He  had  no  idea  of  color  as  such. 
When  he  wanted  one  of  the  note-books  he  impatiently 
cried,  "  wid,  wid,  wid,  "  which  lead  me  to  surmise  that 
"  wid  "  was  his  name  for  the  book.  On  the  thirteenth 
day,  however,  of  his  third  year,  he  gave  the  names  of 
the  colors  of  the  note-books  correctly  as  *'  wed "  and 
"  back,"  and  also  called  a  red  chair  "  wed,"  and  a  red 
ribbon  "  wed."  Three  days  later,  he  named  the  note- 
books "  wed  "  and  "  back,"  but  when  I  asked  him,  what 
color  ?  of  two  articles  of  clothing  (which  were  black)  he 
said,  "  wed,"  showing  that  the  words  black  and  red  were 
associated  with  the  two  books,  and  that  he  did  not  know 
what  one  meant  by  "  color." 

On  the  seventeenth  day  of  his  third  year,  I  told  him  the 
color  of  a  brass  knob  on  a  bedstead,  which  he  was  "  feel- 
ing "  and  admiring,  was  yellow,  which  he  repeated  sev- 
eral times  as  "  lalu."     On  the  following  day  he  put  his 


COLOR  153 

hands  on  the  knob  saying,  "  wed,  wed."  When  I  asked, 
what  color  is  it?  he  again  said  "  wed."  When  I  said 
"  no,"  he  said,  "  lalu,  lalu."  But  when,the  next  moment, 
I  showed  him  a  watch,  the  case  of  which  is  practically 
the  same  shade  of  yellow  as  the  brass  knob,  and  asked 
him,  what  color  is  it  ?  he  said  "  wed,"  then  "  foak,"  show- 
ing that  he  had  merely  associated  the  word  "  lalii "  with 
the  brass  knob  on  the  bedstead.  "  Lalu  "  was  his  name 
for  that  particular  knob,  and  was  not  applied  to  any 
other  objects  —  not  even  to  the  other  three  knobs  on  the 
bedstead.  Two  days  later,  however,  after  some  effort 
and  "  nos  "  to  his  names  "  wed  "  and  "  bak  "  when  he 
gave  them  as  answers  to  my  question  regarding  the  color 
of  the  other  knobs,  he  called  them  "  lalu,"  and  took 
pleasure  in  pointing  to  them  and  saying,  "  lalu."  Either 
the  similarity  of  the  other  three  to  the  first  had  dawned 
upon  him,  or  he  had  associated  the  color  and  the  name, 
**  lalu,"  with  the  other  three,  and  he  afterward  described 
them  as  "  lalii." 

On  the  twenty-eighth  day  of  the  third  year  he  pointed 
out  and  named  correctly  black  blocks  in  a  bed  quilt ;  but 
as  late  as  the  fifty-third  day  he  called  a  black  shoe 
"  wed,"  showing  that  his  use  of  black  and  red  was  still 
uncertain  and  limited.  It  seemed  that  the  words  "  black  '' 
and  "  red  "  were  to  him  merely  things  to  say  in  response 
to  the  question,  "  what  color  is  it  ?  " 

How  imperfect  the  idea  of  yellow  was,  and  how  uncer- 


154  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

tain  the  use  of  the  word,  even  after  being  used  to  de- 
scribe the  brass  knobs  for  almost  six  weeks,  appeared  on 
the  sixtieth  day  of  the  third  year  when  he  called  the 
brass  knobs  one  after  another  "  lalu,"  but  when  asked  the 
color  of  a  gold  watch-case,  brass  hooks,  and  a  yellow 
card,  said,  "  wed  "  or  "  bak."  Except  with  reference  to 
the  brass  knobs,  "  wed  "  and  "  bak  "  were  still  thought 
to  be  the  things  to  say  in  reply  to  "  what  color  is  this  ?  " 

On  the  eighty-third  day  of  the  third  year  he  was 
shown  a  blue  dish  and  told  its  color,  which  he  appUed 
correctly  to  other  blue  dishes  on  the  table.  Six  days 
later  he  named  correctly  and  without  hesitation  the  colors 
of  a  saddle  and  blanket  on  a  toy  horse  as  "  bak  "  and 
"  wed"  ;  also  a  coat  (bak)  ,  dress  (bak)  ,  tie  (wed)  .     "" 

By  this  time  it  seemed  likely  that  the  child  could  be 
taught  colors.  Accordingly,  I  prepared  for  that  purpose 
a  series  of  colored  cards,  two  by  three  inches,  by 
pasting  Bradley  colored  paper  on  cardboard.  The  series 
included  the  Bradley  yellow,  violet,  orange,  green,  black, 
gray,  red,  white  and  blue.  My  thought  was  to  show  him 
the  series  one  at  a  time  until  he  could  name  all  of  them 
correctly  on  sight.  The  series  was  given  first  on  the 
ninety-fifth  day  of  his  third  year,  with  the  result  that  he 
named  black  and  red  correctly,  called  yellow  "  wed,"  but 
did  not  try  to  name  the  other  colors.  The  same  day,  he 
pointed  out  red  and  black  stripes  on  his  high-chair,  but 
he  called  a  yellow  stripe  "  wed."     So  it  may  be  said  that 


COLOR  155 

when  I  began  systematically,  five  days  later,  i.  e.y  on  the 
1 00th  day,  to  teach  him  the  names  of  colors  of  the 
cards  he  could  describe  properly  many  objects  by  the 
words  "  black  "  and  '•  red,"  but  he  had  no  scruples  about 
describing  many  objects  incorrectly  by  the  use  of  the 
same  words.  He  was  at  any  rate  familiar  with  the  names 
"  black,"  "  red  "  and  "  yellow."  The  other  names  were 
new  to  him,  and  the  colors  too,  probably,  for  his  atten- 
tion had  never  been  called  to  them,  except  as  stated  in 
the  first  paragraph  of  this  report. 

The  systematic  teaching  and  practice  on  the  series  be- 
gan, as  just  stated,  on  the  looth  day  of  his  third  year, 
and  continued  until  the  129th,  when  he  was  able  to  name 
the  series  correctly  and  promptly.  That  is,  it  took  him 
four  weeks  and  one  day  to  learn  the  series  so  he  could 
give  the  name  of  the  color  of  each  card  on  sight. 

The  actual  process  of  the  child's  learning  the  series  can  best 
be  described  by  transcribing  a  few  of  my  notes  for  the  first 
day :  — 


1.     April  I,  A.  M. 

First  trial. 

Color. 

Named. 

Yellow 

lelu. 

Violet 

f  No  answer. 

I  Looked  at  me  questioningly. 

Orange 

lelu. 

Green 

No  answer. 

Black 

bak. 

Gray 

No  answer. 

Red 

wed. 

White 

No  answer. 

Blue 

dweed,  /.  e.,  green. 

156  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

When  he  made  no  reply  or  replied  incorrectly,  I  gave  him 
the  name  of  the  color  and  asked  him  to  repeat  the  name-after 
me.  Violet  he  pronounced  ''vi  it";  orange,  "a  su  sii " ; 
green,  "  dweed  "  or  "dween";  gray,  "  dway  "  ;  white 
"fite";  blue,  ^'boo." 

Date.  April  i.  Second  trial  immediately  following  the 
first 


Color. 

Named. 

Blue 

boo. 

White 

No  answer. 

Red 

wed. 

Gray 
Black 

bak. 
bak. 

Green 

boo. 

Orange 
Violet 

wed. 
bak. 

Yellow 

boo. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  second  trial,  I  laid  four  of  the 
cards,  —  black,  red,  blue  and  white  —  on  a  chair  and  asked 
him  to  bring  me  the  cards  one  at  a  time.  I  said,  "  bring  me 
the  black  one,"  which  he  did ;  same  for  red,  blue,  red,  blue, 
red  which  he  did  correctly.  The  next  time  I  called  for  blue  he 
brought  white,  and  when  I  asked  for  white  he  brought  blue. 
It  was  noticed  in  later  tests  made  on  the  first  day  that  he  suc- 
ceeded better  when  I  gave  him  the  name  and  he  picked  out  the 
color,  than  when  he  was  shown  the  card  and  was  required  to 
think  of  the  color  name. 

The  exercises,  or  lessons  with  the  cards,  during  the 
next  twenty-eight  days,  were  substantially  the  same  as 
that  of  the  first  day,  and  it  is  not  thought  necessary  to 
reproduce  in  detail  the  tables  and  records  which  my  notes 
contain. 


COLOR  157 

It  was  said  above  that  the  child  named  the  series 
easily  on  the  twenty-ninth  day  from  the  date  of  beginning 
the  teaching.  On  the  thirtieth  day,  he  went  through  the 
series  correctly  twice  without  hesitation.  The  cards  were 
then  put  away,  and  the  child  did  not  see  them  for  al- 
most six  weeks  when  he  was  again  given  the  cards  and 
asked  to  name  them,  which  he  did  without  error.  He 
hesitated  a  moment  at  orange  and  blue  but  did  not  mis- 
name them. 

It  appeared  a  few  days  later,  that  although  the  child 
could  give  the  names  of  the  colors  of  the  cards,  he  was 
unwilling  or  unable,  in  some  instances,  to  apply  the  color 
names  to  other  objects.  For  example,  he  made  no  reply 
when  I  pointed  to  a  plot  of  green  grass  and  asked,  what 
color  is  the  grass  ?  Nor  did  he  make  any  reply  when  I 
asked  him  the  color  of  some  violets  which  I  had  pulled. 
A  yellow  dandelion  he  called  ajoo  (orange).  But  he  did 
name  correctly  a  carnation  (wed),  a  pair  of  baby  shoes 
(wed),  a  pair  of  black  shoes  and  a  white  cuff.  A  few 
days  later,  the  child  was  playing  with  a  bunch  of  violets, 
a  pink  carnation  and  a  handful  of  dandelions  in  full 
bloom.  When  I  asked  for  the  colors,  he  called  the  car- 
nation, wed ;  the  violets,  vilit ;  the  dandelions,  ajoo,  i,  e.^ 
orange.  Then  I  asked  him  to  show  me  the  "red 
flower,"  and  he  held  up  the  carnation  ;  then  "  violet "  and 
he  held  up  the  violets ;  but  when  I  called  for  yellow,  he 
looked  around  saying,  "  no  lelu,"  i.  e.,  there  is  no  yellow. 


158  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

Experiments  to  determine  R.'s  color  preferences.  —  A 
few  paragraphs  may  be  added  describing  my  experiments 
to  determine  R.'s  color  preferences.  The  tests  were  be- 
gun in  his  tenth  month.  For  this  purpose,  I  prepared 
ten  colored  cards  two  and  one-half  by  four  inches.  The 
colors  used  were  those  furnished  by  the  M.  Bradley 
Company,  the  series  including  violet,  indigo,  blue,  green, 
yellow,  orange,  red,  black,  white  and  gray.  The  child  was 
given  a  comfortable  sitting  position  in  his  high-chair,  which 
had  a  table  attachment  in  front.  Each  test  consisted  of 
holding  in  front  of  the  child  or  laying  on  the  table  two 
cards,  say  red  and  blue,  and  recording  which,  if  either, 
he  reached  for.  The  result  was  more  satisfactory  when 
the  cards  were  laid  on  the  table  in  front  of  him,  and  he 
was  allowed  to  pick  up  the  one  which,  presumably,  he 
preferred. 

Baldwin  has  enumerated  the  difficulties  and  pitfalls  in 
the  way  of  such  investigations  ;  ^  and  they  will  not  be  re- 
peated here.  It  is  in  order,  however,  to  add  that  each 
new  child  will  furnish  the  experimenter  with  new  difficul- 
ties not  encountered  with  other  children.  And  the 
infant's  resourcefulness  in  this  regard  will  astonish  the 
inexperienced. 

My  tests  were  continued  through  the  eleventh,  twelfth, 
I  thirteenth,  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  months  with  the  negative 
\  result  that,  so  far  as  this  method  would  reveal  them,  the  child 
\  ^  Op.  cit.,  pp.  9,  39ff. 


COLOR  159 

showed  no  color  preferences.  One  day  he  would  bounce 
up  and  down  with  joy  and  reach  eagerly  with  both  hands 
for  a  given  one  of  two  presented  colors.  The  next  day, 
likely  as  not,  the  rejected  or  neglected  color  of  the  pre- 
ceding day  is  the  one  seized  upon.  This  result  is  ex- 
plained partially  by  the  fact  that  the  child  soon  came  to 
look  upon  the  cards  as  something  to  be  seized,  handled, 
and  finally  thrown  upon  the  floor.  The  latter  particularly 
afforded  him  great  amusement,  and  it  soon  got  to  be  a 
part  of  the  play.  The  fact  of  increasing  familiarity  with 
the  colors  undoubtedly  influences  the  results  one  gets  by 
this  or  similar  methods.  For  these  reasons,  one  may 
suggest  that  the  results  of  the  early  tests  only  be  taken. 
But  the  results  of  my  early  tests  are  no  more  convincing 
or  enhghtening  when  taken  alone  than  the  averages 
obtained  from  all.  For  example,  on  the  first  day  the 
child  took  red  in  preference  to  black,  yellow  to  blue,  white 
to  purple,  orange  to  gray,  indigo  to  green.  On  the  third 
day,  the  same  series  of  pairs  was  used  and  the  preferences 
were  black  to  red,  yellow  to  blue,  white  to  purple,  gray 
to  orange,  green  to  indigo;  that  is,  the  order  was  re- 
versed in  three  of  the  five  pairs.  There  did  not  appear 
in  the  six  months  named  any  constancy  of  selection  in 
this  series.  The  only  conclusion  that  is  warranted  on 
the  basis  of  the  tables  drawn  up  is  that  there  seemed  to 
be  a  preference  for  the  "  light "  colors,  but  to  this  appear 
so  many  exceptions  that  the  statement  is  hardly  worth 


l6o  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

making.  Toward  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  month  the  child 
would  look  first  at  one  card,  then  the  other ;  then  reach 
for  both  with  both  hands.  The  note  for  the  439th  day- 
reads,  "  There  is  no  ground  for  thinking  the  child  has  any 
color  preferences.  He  is  more  interested  in  what  he  can 
do  with  the  cards  than  in  their  color." 

The  next  note  relative  to  color  preferences  was  made 
on  the  5  34th  day  and  reads,  "  The  child  does  not  show 
any  special  liking  or  preference  for  any  particular  color 
or  colors."  On  the  596th  day  it  was  noted,  "  He  has 
never  shown  any  preference  for  colored  pictures,  balls, 
toys,  over  uncolored  ones,"  meaning  here  by  "  colored," 
the  reds,  yellows,  blues,  as  distinguished  from  the  grays, 
whites,  and  blacks.  He  enjoyed  colored  toys,  vases  of 
flowers,  and  the  like,  but  did  not  prefer  colored  toys  and 
other  objects  to  uncolored  ones.  On  the  623d  day  he 
was  given  red,  blue,  and  yellow  yarn-balls,  a  gray  rubber- 
ball;  and  some  green  apples,  which  he  called  "  baw."  He 
played  with  all  for  several  days,  but  showed  no  preference 
for  the  colored  balls.  If  there  was  any  preference  it  was 
for  the  gray  rubber-ball ;  but  that  was  due  probably  to  the 
fact  that  it  was  more  elastic  and  responsive  to  his  throw- 
ing, handling  and  tossing. 

Throughout  the  remainder  of  his  second  year,  I 
watched  for  signs  of  color  preferences,  but  none  ap- 
peared. In  the  fourth  month  of  his  third  year  there  was  a 
period  of  three  or  four  days  when  he  was  especially 


COLOR  l6l 

interested  in  gray,  when  he  would  say,  **  moah  see 
gway  "  over  and  over.  But  if  it  was  a  preference  for  the 
color  it  soon  disappeared  and  he  lapsed  to  his  wonted 
impartial  liking  for  all  colors. 


CHAPTER  VII 

NUMBER 

It  is  important  to  get  a  definite  notion  of  what  is 
meant  by  the  "  number  idea  "  before  we  can  ask  intelli- 
gently at  what  age  a  given  child  acquires  that  idea,  or 
about  the  steps  by  which  it  is  reached.  The  simplest 
form  of  the  number  idea  involves  perceiving  units,  ones, 
and  at  the  same  time  perceiving  that  the  units  have 
something  qualitative,  temporal,  or  spatial  in  common, 
and  that  they  belong  to  an  aggregate.  In  brief,  the  idea 
of  number  involves  the  perception  of  units  as  belonging 
to  an  aggregate.  The  words  "  two,"  "  several,"  "  many  " 
relate  to  this  elementary  form  of  the  number  idea.  The 
number  idea  involves  not  only  the  ability  to  bind  together 
more  or  less  firmly  a  series  of  units,  but  also  the  ability 
to  break  up  a  group  or  whole  into  its  separate  parts.  A 
higher  form  of  the  number  idea  is  the  perception  of  a 
definite  number  of  ones,  as  four,  six,  eight,  etc.  A  still 
higher  form  of  the  idea  is  the  comparison  of  groups  of 
units,  as  when  one  says  "  this  shelf  contains  five  more 
books  than  that  one  " ;  or  "  this  orchard  contains  eight 
more  trees  than  that." 

It  is  clear  that  the  perception  or  idea  of  number  is  not 
the  mere  perception  of  differences  of  magnitude,  as  when 

162 


NUMBER  163 

a  bird  misses  two  eggs  from  a  nest  of  four ;  or  when,  in 
an  instance  quoted  by  Preyer,  a  child  of  ten  months 
missed  one  of  a  set  of  nine  pins  if  it  was  taken  away,  and 
at  a  year  and  a  half  knew  at  once  whether  or  not  one  of 
his  ten  toy  animals  was  missing,  the  distinction  in  these 
cases  being  between  more  and  less  —  a  distinction  of 
size  —  not  between  more  and  fewer ^  a  distinction  of 
number.^ 

Further,  the  ability  to  point  to  objects  one  after  another 
and  count  them  is  not  in  itself  evidence  of  a  knowledge 
of  number,  for  the  reason  that  the  counting  may  be  imi- 
tative and  mechanical.  Still,  it  should  be  said  that  learn- 
ing the  number  words  facilitates  the  acquisition  of  the 
number  idea. 

The  consensus  of  opinion  seems  to  be  that,  strictly 
speaking,  the  lower  animals  do  not  have  the  number  idea, 
though  they  may  possess  the  rudiments  out  of  which  the 
number  notion  proper  is  developed.  Romanes  ^  relates 
that  he  taught  a  chimpanzee  to  count  correctly  as  far  as 
five,  so  that  when  he  asked  her  for  any  number  of  straws 
fewer  than  six,  and  in  any  order,  she  would  count  them 

1  So  acceptance  of  Leroy's  much  quoted  story  of  the  mathematical  crow- 
that  distinguished  between  a  group  of  four  men  who  entered  the  cabin 
and  a  group  of  three  who  went  away  leaving  the  fourth  to  shoot  the  bird 
when  she  returned  to  the  nest  does  not  require  that  we  credit  the  bird 
with  the  number  idea ;  the  ability  to  distinguish  between  the  sizes  of  the 
two  phenomena  being  sufficient  to  explain  all  that  is  said  to  have  taken 
place. 

» Mental  Evolution  in  Man,  p.  58.       \  ^ 

V 


l64  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

out  and  hand  them  to  him.  Romanes  did  not  doubt  that 
the  animal  was  able  "  to  distinguish  receptually  between 
the  numbers  I,  2,  3,  4,  5,  and  the  name  for  each."  But 
one  may  wonder  what  would  have  been  the  result  if,  in- 
stead of  using  straws  each  time,  the  animal's  number 
sense  had  been  tested  with  different  objects,  e.g.,  pebbles, 
coins,  leaves.  Such  a. test  would  have  disclosed  whether 
the  counting  showed  the  presence  of  the  number  notion 
or  the  presence  merely  of  a  series  of  definite  associations, 
each  of  the  number  words  being  firmly  bound  in  the  ani- 
mal's mind  with  a  certain  visual  impression  —  a  given  num- 
ber of  straws  —  the  result  of  long  and  careful  drill. 

Observers  of  children  agree  that  the  number  idea  —  ex- 
cept in  the  rudimentary  form  to  be  described  presently  — 
is  seldom  present  before  the  fourth  year.  Preyer  was 
disappointed  that  he  could  not  make  intelligible  to  his  son 
in  his  twenty-seventh  month  the  numerals  one  to  five,  and 
wonders  "  how  it  is  that  one  and  two,  and  likewise  three, 
four,  and  five  are  confounded  with  one  another."  ^  Con- 
tinuing Preyer  says, 

"In  the  twenty-ninth  month,  although  numerals  are  well- 
known  to  the  child,  still  he  confounds  them  on  all  occasions, 
and  in  view  of  the  absolute  failure  of  many  attempts  to  teach 
the  child  the  significance  of  the  numbers  i,  2,  3,  4,  5,  one 
might  infer  that  he  has  not  yet  perceived  the  difference  between, 
e,  g,j  three  matches  and  four  matches;  yet  counting  is  already 

»  Op.  cit..  Part  II,  pp.  165,  172. 


NUMBER  165 

taking  place  —  878th  day  —  by  putting  nine  pins  in  a  row  and 
saying,  as  he  places  each  one,  <  eiiis  !  eins  !  eins  / '  "  And 
Sully  relates  that  "a  child  of  three  and  a-half,  generally  ob- 
servant and  intelligent,  and  capable  of  comparing  the  magni- 
tude of  things,  showed  an  almost  complete  inability  to  appre- 
hend relations  of  number.  Though  taught  to  say  *  one,'  '  two,' 
<  three '  in  connection  with  concrete  objects,  he  persisted  in 
confounding  number,  or  discrete  quantity,  with  magnitude  or 
continuous  quantity. ' '  ^ 

Assuming  that  the  cases  described  by  Preyer  and  Sully 
are  typical — as  they  probably  are  —  one  would  not  expect 
to  find  the  number  notion,  except  in  a  rudimentary  form, 
before  the  fourth  year. 

Now  what  are  the  steps  in  the  process  of  acquiring  the 
number  idea?  In  my  observations  of  the  child  R.,  I 
have  tried  to  catch  every  symptom  which  suggested  even 
remotely  the  presence  of  the  notion  of  number.  On  the 
second  day  of  his  twentieth  month,  I  tried  to  see  what 
idea  he  could  get  of  counting,  whether  the  process  would 
have  any  meaning  for  him,  and,  if  so,  what.  I  counted, 
as  he  stood  by,  a  row  of  buttons  —  i,  2,  3, 4,  5,  —  putting 
my  finger  on  each  one  as  I  spoke  the  number  name.  He 
immediately  went  through  the  same  motion,  saying,  "  la  " 
or  "  fu "  as  he  touched  each  one.  He  was  merely  imi- 
tating, as  well  as  he  could,  a  performance  which  inter- 
ested him.  If  I  had  jumped  up  and  down  and  shouted 
«<  one  —  two  —  three,"  doubtless  he  would  have  tried  to  do 

^  Human  Mind,  Vol.  I,  p.  430,  Appleton  edition. 


l66  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL   GROWTH 

the  same,  and  it  would  have  had  as  much  number  sig- 
nificance as  what  he  did  do.  A  few  days  later  —  near  the 
middle  of  the  month  —  remembering  the  story  of  the  rook 
and  the  four  men  in  the  cabin,  and  the  story  related  by 
Preyer  of  the  boy  of  eighteen  months  who  missed  one  of 
ten  toys  —  I  thought  it  not  unlikely  that  if  I  should  pur- 
loin one  of  R.'s  favorite  toys  while  he  was  playmg 
with  them,  he  would  miss  it  and  make  an  outcry.  The 
opportunity  to  try  soon  came.  At  that  time  one  of  the 
child's  favorite  plays  was  to  put  a  few  balls  in  a  toy  wagon 
and  to  run  drawing  the  wagon  after  him.  One  day  while 
he  was  playing  in  this  way,  and  had  put  two  balls  which 
were  ahke  in  size  and  appearance  in  the  wagon  and 
started  off  looking  ahead  of  him,  I  slipped  out  one  of 
them.  After  running  a  short  distance,  he  stopped,  looked 
back  at  the  wagon,  and  began  to  say  "  baw,  baw,"  and  to 
hunt  for  the  missing  ball.  On  the  following  day,  he  had 
three  balls  in  the  wagon.  When  he  started  off  drawing 
the  wagon  after  him,  I  slipped  out  one  ball.  Presently 
he  stopped,  looked  at  the  wagon,  and  seemed  half  aware 
that  something  was  wrong,  but  he  made  no  outcry.  So 
I  was  not  sure  that  he  had  missed  the  ball  I  had  taken. 
The  experiment  of  taking  one  ball  out  of  the  wagon  when 
there  were  two  in  it  was  repeated  a  few  days  later  with  a 
result  like  that  of  the  first  day.  But  if  there  were  three 
balls  in  the  wagon,  anii;  one  was  taken  out  he  made  no 
cry  or  showed  that  he  missed  it.     Of  course,  this  is  not 


NUMBER  167 

conclusive  that  he  did  not  notice  the  change.  It  shows 
only  that  he  was  not  disturbed  enough  to  make  an  out- 
cry. From  these  experiments,  it  seems  clear  that  there 
was  no  reason  for  thinking  that  R.  was  able  at  that  time 
(twentieth  month)  to  make  the  distinctions  attributed  to 
the  crow,  or  to  the  child  mentioned  by  Preyer. 

Beginning  with  R.'s  twentieth  month  we  counted  arti- 
cles for  him  for  his  amusement,  and,  after  a  time,  he 
learned  the  words  "  wod  "  (one),  two,  fee,  fouh,  fize,  sets 
—  and  when  asked  to  count  would  speak  some  of  those 
words  regardless  of  the  order  in  which  he  had  heard 
them.  They  had  absolutely  no  number  meaning  for  the 
child.  He  had  associated  them  in  some  way  with  the 
direction  to  *'  count,"  and  when  asked  to  count,  he  would 
point  to  or  strike  the  objects  saying  "  two,"  "  fize,"  "  sets," 
or  whatever  counting  words  came  to  his  mind. 

In  the  twenty-fourth  month  when  asked, "  how  many  ?  " 
of  anything  he  had,  the  answer  nearly  always  was  "  two," 
no  matter  what  the  actual  number  was.  "  Two  "  was  the 
thing  to  say  in  reply  to  the  question,  "  how  many  ? " 
In  the  same  month  when  asked  to  count  his  fingers,  he 
said  "  fouh  "  as  each  finger  was  touched.  In  the  io6th 
week,  counting  his  toes  was  quickly  disposed  of  by 
'•  fouh  chiit,"  i.  e.y  four-six.  Again,  a  note  for  the  ii6th 
week  reads,  "  Counting  may  begin  with  any  of  the  first 
five  number  names  and  proceed  in  any  order."  He  had 
not  even  learned  the  correct  order  of  the  first  five  num- 


1 68  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

ber  words.  So  when  he  did,  by  chance,  speak  the  words 
in  the  correct  order,  for  example,  when  nodding  to  pic- 
tures and  playing  that  he  was  counting  them  it  meant  no 
more  than  if  he  had  said  "  mene,  mini,  mo." 

In  the  twenty-eighth  months  the  child  began  to  point 
to  different  objects  of  the  same  kind,  one  after  another, 
naming  each  one.  For  example,  he  would  point  to  one 
picture  saying,  "  pichees,"  then  to  another  picture  say- 
ing, "  n  pichess  "  (the  n  having  the  sound  of  n  when  it 
precedes  a  vowel  as  in  "  not "),  and  meaning,  "  there  is 
another  picture."  That  is,  the  "  n  "  meant  "  another  "  ; 
thus,  "  n  poo  "  meant  "  another  spoon."  A  month  later, 
"  n  "  was  displaced  by  •'  nuna."  When  he  pointed  to  a 
second,  and  third  and  so  on  of  objects  he  was  naming  it 
was  "  nuna  poo  "  (another  spoon),  "  nuna  baw"  (another 
ball),  and  so  on.  Thus,  in  the  last  week  of  the  twenty- 
ninth  month  (865th  day)  the  child  came  to  me  holding  a 
piece  of  crust  in  each  hand.  Holding  up  the  left  hand, 
he  said  "  bed  "  (bread)  ;  then  holding  up  the  right  hand, 
said  "  nuna  bed,"  i.  e.y  another  bread.  This  was  not 
counting,  certainly,  but  it  was  a  step  in  that  direction,  a 
step,  so  it  would  seem,  toward  the  understanding  and  the 
expression  of  the  number  notion.^ 

In  the  thirtieth  month,  a  girl  friend  of  R.'s  entertained 

^  "  The  essence  of  counting  is  in  just  such  a  progressive  distinction  as 
is  conveyed  by  '  this,'  '  that/  and  *  the  other ' ;  alter  and  treno'^  have 
almost  the  value  of  numerals."  —  Bosanquet,  Logic,  I,  p.  156.     Prayer 


NUMBER  169 

him  by  counting  balls,  apples  and  so  forth  for  him,  and 
by  having  him  count  also.  In  this  way,  counting  came 
to  be  a  pleasant  exercise,  a  play ;  but  no  record^ was  kept 
of  the  results.  On  a  certain  day  early  in  the  thirty-first 
month,  he  brought  three  apples  to  me  saying,  "  cot " 
(count).  He  counted  the  apples  correctly  —  wod,  two, 
fee.  Then  to  test  him,  I  asked  him  to  bring  me  one 
apple,  then  three,  then  two.  Each  time,  after  he  handed 
me  the  number  asked  for,  I  threw  them  on  the  ground 
and  named  a  new  number.  This  play  was  kept  up  for 
fifteen  minutes  with  only  one  mistake  appearing.  (That 
time  he  brought  three  apples  when  I  had  asked  for  two. 
I  said,  '*  No,  I  don't  want  them ;  I  want  two."  He 
walked  away  a  short  distance,  dropped  one  apple,  and 
returned  with  the  remaining  two.)  I  was  pretty  sure, 
therefore,  that  he  knew  the  difference  between  one  apple 
and  two  apples,  between  two  and  three,  and  between 
three  and  one.  (His  recent  practice  having  been  with 
apples,  wholly,  I  do  not  know  what  would  have  been  the 
result  if  sticks,  blocks,  or  some  objects  other  than  apples 
had  been  used.)  Five  days  later,  the  child  made  a  poor 
showing  in  a  test  which  I  gave  him  which  consisted  of 
holding  one,  two,  or  three  apples  in  my  hand  and  asking. 


writes  on  this  point :  "  Sigismund's  boy,  long  before  he  formed  sentences, 
on  seeing  two  horsemen,  one  following  the  other  at  a  short  distance,  said 
«  Eite  (reiter) !  noch  eins.'  This  proves  the  activity  of  the  faculty  of  num- 
bering."—  Vol.  II,  p,  247. 


lyo  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

•'  how  many  ?  "  In  this  test  he  did  not  call  one  apple 
"  two  "  or  ••  three,"  but  "  two  "  and  «*  three  "  were  fre- 
quently confused.  His  knowledge  of  number,  so  lar  as 
this  test  revealed  it,  was  an  association  between  a  series 
of  percepts  and  the  number  words  —  one,  two,  three  — 
and  was  found  to  be  not  very  reliable.  He  confused  two 
and  three  in  trying  to  number  what  was  before  him.  On 
the  seventeenth  day  of  the  thirty-first  month,  he  an- 
swered correctly  when  I  held  up  one,  two,  three  fingers  — 
each  a  number  of  times  —  asking.  How  many?  On  the 
twentieth  day,  he  answered  correctly  when  I  held  before 
him  one,  two,  or  three  apples  each  several  times  and 
asked,  how  many  ?  Similarly,  on  the  twenty-eighth  day 
of  the  month,  he  numbered  correctly  one,  two,  three 
pieces  of  cardboard  as  I  showed  them  to  him.  So  it 
appeared  that  at  the  close  of  the  thirty-first  month  R. 
was  able  to  apply  the  numbers,  one,  two,  three  correctly 
to  at  least  three  classes  of  objects  —  apples,  fingers,  and 
pieces  of  cardboard. 

On  the  first  day  of  the  thirty-second  months  the  child 
told  the  number  of  apples  I  held  in  my  hand,  up  to 
three ;  but  when  I  added  a  fourth  and  said,  "  there  are 
four,"  he  confused  three  and  four.  Four  apples  were 
called  "  three,"  and  three,  "  four."  When  I  laid  three 
apples  in  a  row  and  asked  him  to  count  them,  he  failed 
entirely.  Seemingly,  he  had  forgotten  the  little  he  once 
knew   about    counting.     On    the   eleventh   day   of   the 


NUMBER  171 

month,  I  held  before  him  one,  two,  three,  four  apples 
each  six  times,  asking,  •'  How  many  ? "  He  answered 
correctly  twenty-three  times  —  ail  but  once  —  the  one 
time  confusing  three  and  four.  The  next  day,  I  used 
triangles  cut  from  cardboard  for  the  number  test.  One 
and  two  were  named  correctly,  but  three  and  four  were 
confused,  whether  from  listlessness  or  confusion  or  doubt, 
I  could  not  teU.  The  following  day,  green  walnuts  were 
used  in  the  number  exercise  with  a  high  average  of  cor- 
rect answers,  but  the  child  was  still  uncertain  in  his  use 
of  "  three  "  and  "  four."  The  note  made  on  the  sixteenth 
day  of  the  month  reads,  "  The  child  is  not  successful  in 
answering  *  how  many  ? '  if  objects  other  than  apples  are 
used."  Colored  cards  were  used  on  that  date.  One  and 
two  were  named  correctly,  but  he  was  uncertain  when 
three  and  four  were  laid  before  him.  On  the  seventeenth 
day,  four  colored  cards  —  blue,  yellow,  orange,  and  green 
—  were  shown  him —  i,  2,  3,  4  at  a  time  —  as  in  previous 
tests.  At  first,  he  was  greatly  confused  by  three  and 
four.  But  finally  he  "  settled  down "  to  the  work  and 
made  a  large  number  of  correct  answers  and  no  wrong 
ones.  On  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  the  month  he  named 
correctly  groups  of  cubes  —  one,  two,  three  and  four. 
On  the  same  day,  I  showed  him  five  blocks  and  gave 
him  the  number  word  "  five,"  but  he  soon  forgot  the  new 
word,  and  said  "  fee "  or  "  two "  when  I  laid  the  five 
blocks  before  him. 


172  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

On  the  first  day  of  the  thirty-third  month  I  tried  to  get 
the  child  interested  in  counting  leaves  of  trees ;  but  he 
was  either  Hstless  or  had  forgotten,  and  made  more 
wrong  answers  than  right.  Then  I  tried  apples,  but  with 
no  better  success.  The  counting  exercise'  was  then  dis- 
continued until  the  twelfth  day  of  the  thirty-fourth  month 
when  I  tried  to  get  him  to  count  groups  of  blocks  up  to 
five.  He  could  count  one,  two,  three,  but  he  had  for- 
gotten the  words  "  four  "  and  "  five,"  and  soon  lost  inter- 
est when  I  asked  him  to  give  the  number  in  those  larger 
groups.  On  the  twenty-seventh  day  of  the  month,  I 
tried  to  interest  him  in  counting  his  own  fingers,  but  he 
would  not  try,  saying,  "  No  Wa  tell  finnies  bit "  (R.  can- 
not, or  does  not  wish  to  count  his  fingers  a  bit). 

Once,  early  in  the  thirty-fifth  month,  I  tried  to  get  the 
child  to  tell  the  number  of  brass  knobs  on  a  bedstead, 
but  the  distance  from  knob  to  knob  was  too  great,  per- 
haps, for  him  to  grasp  all  at  a  glance —  at  any  rate,  he 
failed  utterly  in  numbering  the  knobs.  .  .  .  The 
records  for  the  remaining  two  months  of  the  third  year 
resemble  that  of  the  preceding  month.  Occasionally, 
the  child  was  able  and  willing  to  tell  "  how  many  "  of 
groups  of  blocks,  or  apples  up  to  and  including  four. 
But  more  often  he  was  listless  and  indifferent,  sometimes 
flatly  refusing  to  go  through  the  number  exercise.  Some- 
times he  would  suggest  some  other  exercise  or  play,  such 
as  drawing  or  looking  at  and  naming  pictures.     A  few 


NUMBER  173 

times,  he  called  for  the  blocks  saying,  "  cot,  cot "  (count), 
but  we  thought  it  was  more  to  get  the  blocks  to  handle, 
to  pile  up  and  to  make  "  choo-choos  "  or  houses  than  to 
exercise  his  number  notions. 

It  would  be  fair,  I  think,  to  say  that  at  the  close  of 
R.'s  third  year  he  had  a  genuine  disUke  for  the  number 
exercise,  which  he  expressed  by,  "  Wa  dot  like  cout  ese 
blocks."  Whether  the  dislike  arose  from  being  surfeited 
with  number,  or  because  the  exercise  was  dull  and  mean- 
ingless, one  could  not  tell  —  possibly  both.  ^ 

This  description  of  the  rudimentary  forms  of  the  num- 
ber idea,  and  of  my  efforts  to  teach  R.  number,  may  be 
concluded  by  a  pedagogical  remark ;  namely,  that  R. 
was  confused  by  the  double  meaning  of  the  number 
words  "  one,  two,  three,  four  "  and  so  on.  For  example, 
in  counting  a  row  of  blocks,  "  three  "  means  third  in  the 
series,  while  in  another  connection  it  means  the  total 
number  in  a  group.  Perhaps  it  would  facilitate  number 
teaching  to  the  beginner  if  different  words  could  be  used 
for  counting  and  for  giving  the  numbers  in  groups, 
thus  avoiding  the  ambiguous  meanings  of  the  number 
words  —  three,  four,  five  and  so  on. 


'  One  verbal  form  which  appeared  first  in  the  thirty-sixth  month  was 
curious  enough  to  attract  our  attention,  namely,  the  expression  ' '  two 
ones "  meaning  «« both."  Thus,  if  one  held  up  two  apples  and  asked, 
which  apple  do  you  want  ?  the  answer  would  be  « two  ones,"  meaning 
that  he  wanted  both  of  them  —  if  that  was  the  case. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

FORM 

Probably  every  one  would  agree  with  Dr.  W.  T.  Har- 
ris that  a  child  who  recognizes  "  a  picture  of  Raphael's 
Transfiguration  as  a  square ;  the  Laocobn  group  as  a 
trapezium  ;  the  St.  George  and  the  Dragon  as  a  triangle," 
has  been  excessively  trained  in  form  studies.  On  the 
other  hand,  we  think  an  education  is  defective  which  does 
not  include  practice  in  dealing  with  the  fundamental  ge- 
ometric forms.  For  practical  reasons,  civilized  man  is 
under  the  necessity  of  thinking  the  world  in  terms  of 
simple  geometric  forms,  and  he  must  be  able  to  express 
himself  in  geometric  language.  Geometric  ideas  and 
terminology  are  indispensable  tools  for  the  rapid  and 
efficient  management  of  the  practical  affairs  of  life. 

Even  if  a  knowledge  of  the  simple  forms  of  geometry 
had  no  other  value  than  the  practical  one  just  mentioned, 
we  should  still  have  reason  enough  for  the  interest  we 
find  in  watching  the  development  of  a  child's  ideas  of 
those  forms  and  the  growth  of  his  interest  in  them.  But 
much  earlier,  in  point  of  time,  than  the  learning  of  ge- 
ometric forms  comes  the  recognition  of  similarities  and 
differences  in  form  as  an   attribute  of  things,  and  the 

174 


FORM  175 

ability  to  classify  objects  according  to  form.  Later,  the 
child  learns  geometric  forms  and  applies  his  knowledge 
of  them  to  objects  in  the  world  about  him  ;  and  later  still, 
he  develops  an  interest  in  pure  form  independently  of 
associations. 

The  first  evidence  that  the  child  perceives  form  as  an 
attribute  of  objects  is  found,  probably,  in  the  first  recog- 
nitions of  objects,  which,  at  first,  are  based  largely  upon 
the  perception  of  likeness  of  form.  Thus  a  child's  earliest 
recognitions  of  members  of  the  family,  of  animal  pets, 
articles  of  food,  toys,  playthmgs  and  the  like  are  partly 
through  the  attribute  of  form  ;  that  is,  the  new  object  is 
felt  or  known  as  old  or  familiar  because  of  the  similarity 
of  its  form  to  a  well  known  object  or  article. 

Many  of  the  infant's  efforts  at  classifying  are  based  on 
form.  Sometimes  a  few  points  of  similarity  are  enough 
to  lead  the  child  to  put  in  the  same  class  objects  which 
are  very  different  in  other  respects.  For  example,  R.  in 
his  eighteenth  month  used  the  word  "  mum  "  to  name 
any  four-legged  animal  —  a  horse,  a  cow,  a  calf,  a  pig,  a 
moose, —  which  he  saw  afield.  The  word  "  baw  "  which 
R.  had  learned  was  apphed  (sixteenth  to  twentieth 
months)  to  balls,  green  apples,  pears,  green  grapes,  rad- 
ishes, squashes  —  anything  which  resembled  roughly  the 
shape  of  a  ball.  At  first,  it  seemed  that  the  assimilation 
of  those  objects  as  balls  was  through  touch  and  handling 
rather  than  through  the  eyes ;  that  is,  the  similarity  which 


176  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

the  child  noted  of  the  objects  called  "  baw,"  was  in  what 
could  be  done  with  them,  and  with  their  ♦♦  feel "  rather 
than  in  their  visual  appearance  ;  but  he  soon  began  to 
class  objects  by  the  aid  of  the  eyes  alone.  Thus  form 
together  with  use  and  what  the  things  do  come  to  be  the 
most  important  attributes  in  determining  the  child's  clas- 
sification of  objects  about  him.  Usually  his  classifications 
are  broad  and  loose ;  and  sometimes  he  goes  far  astray  ; 
then  we  get  the  definitions  and  generalizations  which 
make  the  bulk  of  the  humorous  sayings  of  children ; 
e.  g.y  an  elephant  is  described  as  "  a  big  thing  that  walks 
backward." 

Teaching  simple  geometrical  forms.  —  Beginning  with 
the  first  week  of  R.'s  twenty-eighth  month,  I  began  a 
series  of  lessons  in  which  I  tried  to  teach  him  the  names 
of  a  few  simple  geometrical  forms.  The  experiment 
turned  out  to  be  a  study  of  the  child's  ability  and  willing- 
ness to  remember  arbitrary  word- sounds  or  names  in 
connection  with  what  were  to  him  arbitrarily  chosen  ob- 
jects. It  was  an  effort,  on  my  part,  to  teach  the  child  to 
utter  a  bare  word  upon  seeing  figures  which  were  en- 
tirely lacking  in  associations.  The  task,  on  the  child's 
part,  was  to  associate  a  given  word  with  a  given  visual 
image.  It  was  a  test  of  the  child's  ability  to  remember 
form  names  which  were  devoid  of  interest  or  associations 
of  any  kind,  except  that  they  were  used  in  the  exercise. 

For  the  lessons,  I  used  circles,  squares,  and  triangles  — 


FORM  177 

four  sizes  of  each  —  cut  from  cardboard.  The  circles 
ranged  in  size  from  one-half  to  three  inches  in  diameter, 
and  the  squares  and  triangles  were  approximately  of  the 
same  sizes  as  the  circles.  The  method,  in  brief,  was  to 
hold  the  card  in  front  of  the  child  and  ask  him  to  name 
it,  recording  his  answer  or  his  silence  in  case  he  would 
not  undertake  to  name  the  card.  The  exercises  with  the 
cards  were  continued  at  intervals  until  the  end  of  the 
third  year.  There  was  nothing  unusual,  I  think,  about 
the  child's  learning  the  names  of  the  forms,  which  was 
accomplished  in  nine  or  ten  lessons.  The  forms  were 
easily  distinguished,  but  he  had  some  trouble  at  first  in 
remembering  whether  a  square  was  to  be  called  triangle 
("  annie  "  was  his  name  for  the  latter)  or  square  (pai  or 
peuh) ;  that  is,  he  did  not  at  first  associate  the  names 
"  triangle  "  and  "  square  "  with  those  forms  so  he  was 
able  to  name  them  unhesitatingly. 

The  accompanying  table  gives  an  abstract  of  the  results  of 
the   exercise   with  the  circles,  triangles,  and  squares  for  the  / 


twenty-eighth  and 

twenty-ninth  months. 

Month.    Day. 

Figure, 

Named.             Figure.        Named. 

Figure.         Named. 

28th,        5th 

Circle 

no  answer,    Triangle, 

Square, 

8th 
«      nth 

« 

no  answer, 

grimaces, 

sucoo, 

"       1 2th 

« 

big  sucoo, 
baby  sucoo. 

«      13th 

« 

sucoo,  big 
sucoo. 

178 


FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 


Month 

Day. 

Figure. 

Named. 

Figure, 

Named.       F 

igure.         Named. 

28th, 

14th 

Triangle, 

sucoo, 

« 

1 6th 

Circle 

no  answer, 

« 

no  answer, 
grimaces. 

" 

20th 

<« 

no  answer, 

" 

no  answer. 

(( 

27th 

<( 

baby  sucoo, 

« 

no  answer, 

« 

28th 

« 

big  sucoo. 

(( 

grimaces. 

29th 

1st 

" 

big  sucoo, 

(( 

peuh  (square) 

« 

'3d 

« 

«       « 

« 

"  annie," 

« 

no  answer 

« 

4th 

u 

((       « 

« 

big  annie. 

(( 

no  answer 

« 

5th 

« 

<(       « 

(( 

«      (( 

" 

pai  (square) 

« 

6th 

« 

sucoo, 

« 

annie. 

(( 

no  answer 

« 

9th 

« 

« 

«« 

« 

« 

pai 

« 

nth 

« 

if 

ff 

« 

« 

« 

« 

i6th 

<( 

« 

<( 

it 

« 

no  answer 

« 

19th 

« 

it 

« 

tt 

« 

pai 

« 

23d 

« 

(( 

(( 

u 

(« 

« 

« 

27th 

« 

(« 

« 

tt 

« 

(« 

« 

29th 

« 

(C 

« 

M 

<{ 

(( 

It  is  unnecessary  to  copy  the  tables  for  the  next  seven 
months,  since  they  are  substantially  the  same  as  for  the  twenty- 
ninth. 

In  the  course  of  the  lessons  with  the  figures,  one  was 
often  struck  by  the  fleeting  nature  of  the  child's  memory 
for  the  form  names.  If  the  exercise  was  discontinued 
for  a  few  days,  or  a  week,  the  names  were  likely  to  slip 
away.  Sometimes,  he  was  able  after  some  effort  to  re- 
call the  vanished  name  when  the  exercise  was  resumed  ;  at 
other  times,  I  had  to  tell  him.  Perhaps,  if  the  child  had 
been  exercised  in  applying  the  form  names  to  other  ob- 
jects in  his  environment,  he  would  have  retained  them 
much  more  securely.     As  it  was,  the  names  did  not  stick 


FORM  179 

because  there  was  no  reason  —  besides  frequent  repeti- 
tion —  why  they  should. 

A  fact  similar  to  one  which  had  been  noticed  in  teach- 
ing the  child  the  names  of  colors  was  noticed  in  the  exer- 
cise with  the  figures  ;  namely,  that  mere  repetition  of  a 
form-name,  even  as  many  as  twenty  times,  was  not  suffi- 
cient to  lodge  it  in  memory.  For  example,  I  had  him 
look  at  the  figure  and  speak  the  word  "  diamond  "  twenty 
times.  He  then  laid  the  card  down,  ran  to  the  window, 
and  when  he  came  back  —  in  about  twenty  second^ —  I 
asked  him  to  name  the  diamond,  but  he  had  forgotten  — 
this  in  the  thirtieth  month.  The  child  was  not  interested 
in  the  name,  there  were  no  associations,  and  frequency 
alone  was  not  enough  to  fix  the  name  in  memory. 

Application  of  form  names.  —  If  given  a  little  en- 
couragement, children,  even  before  the  end  of  the  second 
year,  often  become  very  clever  in  applying  their  form 
names  to  objects  about  them.  Thus  Miss  Shinn's  niece, 
who  developed  a  precocious  interest  in  simple  forms, 
"  pointed  out  a  small  artificial  pond  in  the  form  of  an 
ellipse,  as  a  '  round  O  '  (twenty-second  month)  .  And 
the  record  for  the  remaining  weeks  of  the  child's  second 
year  contains  a  number  of  illustrations  of  her  ability  to 
recognize  and  name  simple  geometrical  forms.  For  ex- 
ample (668th  day)  she*  pulled  apart  the  points  of  a  hair- 
pin some  forty-five  degrees  ;  then,  struck  by  its  appear- 
ance, held  it  up  and  cried, '  Triangle '  !  (Ti-a?).     Again 


l8o  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

(695  th  day)  she  set  her  shoes  with  heels  together  and 
toes  diverging,  and  said,  '  Ruth  shoes  make  triangle ' ; 
then  set  them  parallel,  — '  Now  make  oblong.'  "  ^ 

The  few  notes  which  my  record  contains  with  reference 
to  R.'s  abihty  to  use  his  form  names  show  a  strange  inabil- 
ity to  apply  them  to  objects  other  than  the  cardboards 
which  were  used  in  the  exercise  described  above.  Perhaps 
not  so  strange  either  —  since  he  had  never  heard  the  names 
"  circle,"  "  square,"  "triangle,"  applied  to  any  objects  ex- 
cept the  cardboards,  and  in  that  exercise  the  words  circle, 
square,  triangle  were  names  of  the  things  —  not  of  their 
forms  —  just  as  "  doll  "  and  "  cat  "  were  the  names  of 
other  objects.  On  a  certain  day  in  the  early  part  of  R.'s 
thirty-second  month,  an  hour  after  he  had  gone  through 
the  exercise  with  the  cardboards,  naming  them  correctly, 
I  held  in  front  of  him  a  square  graham- cracker  and 
asked,  "  What  is  that  ?  "  He  first  said, "  wed,"  (red)  then 
"big  cackwee,"  but  didn't  notice  its  form.  A  week  later, 
I  made  a  number  of  circles,  squares,  and  triangles  with 
pen  and  ink,  and  asked  the  child  to  name  them.  He 
called  the  circles  "  Os,"  but  had  no  names  for  the  tri- 
angles and  squares.  Five  days  later  the  experiment  with 
the  pen  and  ink  figures  was  repeated  with  precisely  the 
same  result  as  on  the  first  day  —  such  was  his  loyalty  to 
the  little  cardboard  figures.  No  doubt  it  would  have 
been  as  easy  for  him  to  rob  his  "  choo-choo  "  of  its  name 

1  Notes  on  the  Development  of  a  Child,  Vol.  I,  pp.  66-7. 


FORM  l8l 

as  it  would  to  have  called  things,  other  than  the  card- 
boards, "  circles,"  "  squares,"  and  "  triangles." 

Esthetic  interest  in  form.  —  This  brief  study  of  Form 
may  be  concluded  by  reference  to  what  one  may  call 
"  the  aesthetic  interest "  which  children  sometimes  mani- 
fest in  simple  geometrical  forms.  It  happens  not  in- 
frequently that  Httle  children  take  a  pleasure  in  looking 
at  and  handhng  simple  geometrical  forms  akin  somewhat 
to  the  delight  an  older  person  derives  from  the  contem- 
plation of  symmetry  and  proportion  in  works  of  art. 
Some  of  the  records  of  infant  behavior  show  that  children, 
sometimes  in  the  second  year,  develop  a  fondness  for 
particular  forms,  while  they  neglect  or  even  dislike  others. 
For  example.  Miss  Shinn  states  that  in  her  niece's  twenty- 
first  month,  the  child's  preference  for  oblongs  and  circles 
to  squares  became  quite  pronounced,  and  that  at  the  close 
of  the  twenty-second  month  the  child  liked  circles  and 
oblongs  —  particularly  the  latter  ^  —  and  cared  nothing  for 
squares  and  triangles.  My  observations  of  R.'s  prefer- 
ences for  figures  made  it  entirely  clear  that  he  liked  the 
circles  better  than  the  squares  and  triangles,  as  shown  by  his 
frequent  calling  for  the  circles,  his  desire  to  have  them  to 
handle,  and  by  his  manner  of  talking  to  and  about  them. 

»  Miss  Shinn  was  of  the  opinion  that,  "  The  interest  in  the  oblong 
.  .  .  was  probably  simply  due  to  convenience  in  holding ;  the  oblong 
tablets  fitted  her  little  fist  very  nicely,  and  she  was  solicitous  to  have  them 
laid  in  an  even  pile  therein." — Notes^  Part  I,  p.  64. 


CHAPTER  IX 

ASSOCIATION 

The  word  "  Association  "  as  used  in  functional  psy- 
chology refers  either  to  a  process  or  to  a  relation :  as  a 
process,  it  means  the  binding  together  the  elements  of 
mental  experience  into  groups,  more  or  less  complex,  and 
having  greater  or  less  stability;  as  a  relation,  it  refers  to 
the  state  which  exists  between  the  parts  of  that  same 
mental  experience  when  the  revival  of  one  of  the  parts 
tends  to  revive  other  parts.  James  describes  "  Asso- 
ciation "  as  one  of  the  four  *'  ultimate  foundation  pillars 
of  the  intellectual  life,"  the  other  three  being  discrimi- 
nation, -retentiveness  and  the  faculty  of  perceiving  like- 
nesses. That  is,  it  is  of  the  essence  of  mind  to  retain  the 
results  of  its  experiences  (retentiveness),  to  note  differences 
and  likenesses  (discrimination  and  comparison),  and  to 
combine  the  elements  of  experience  into  more  or  less 
complex  wholes.  These  processes  constitute  the  essential 
nature  of  mind,  particularly  on  its  intellectual  side.  We 
may,  therefore,  consider  Association,  with  which  we  are 
at  present  concerned,  (the  "  faculty  "  or  power  of  "  bind- 
ing together,"  "  combining,"  "  uniting,"  "  integrating," 
"  synthetizing  "  are  other  equivalents  used  by  psycholo- 

182 


ASSOCIATION  183 

gists)  as  a  fundamental  function  of  the  mind.  "  The 
mind,"  as  James  puts  it,  *'  is  essentially  an  associating 
machine."  A  mind  which  does  not  associate,  a  mind  in 
which  associations  are  not  and  cannot  be  formed  is 
described  as  an  idiotic  or  feeble  mind. 

One  of  the  most  striking  things  about  the  attempts  to  teach 
feeble-minded  children  is  the  difficulty  of  building  up  and  fixing 
associations  in  the  minds  of  these  unfortunates.  The  links  or 
fibres  (if  there  are  such),  which  bind  together  the  several  items 
of  such  a  child's  experience  are  like  ropes  of  sand  —  no  sooner 
are  they  formed  than  they  fall  to  pieces.  Teachers  in  schools 
for  the  feeble-minded  often  spend  a  whole  year  in  teaching  a 
pupil  to  place  red  balls  in  red  cups,  white  balls  in  white  cups, 
blue  ones  in  blue  cups,  the  task  being  to  remember  that  the  red 
ball  goes  in  the  red  cup,  the  blue  one  in  the  blue  cup  and  so 
on ;  and  when  finally  the  task  is  mastered  it  seems  more  like  a 
muscular  habit  (the  balls  and  cups  always  being  set  before  the 
child  in  the  same  order),  than  a  mental  association.  One  of 
the  sure  tests  then  of  the  soundness  of  a  child's  mind  is  the 
possibility  of  forming  associations  having  a  high  degree  of 
permanence. 

We  may  say,  therefore,  that  mental  development  on  its 
intellectual  side  is,  in  part,  a  process  of  building  up  asso- 
ciations, of  combining  sense-experiences,  percepts,  and 
ideas  into  coherent  wholes,  of  uniting  ideas  into  clusters, 
and  of  discovering  laws  and  general  principles.  The 
associative  process  is  present  at  every  stage  of  intellectual 
development  from  the  first,  crude,  tentative  beginnings  of 
the  infant's  associating  certain  tastes,  touches,  muscular 


l84  FIRST   STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

sensations  —  and  possibly  odors  —  with  the  satisfaction 
of  hunger  up  to  the  highest  and  most  imposing  creations 
of  scientific  or  artistic  genius.  And  it  may  be  said,  con- 
versely, that  mental  development  cannot  go  on  in  a  mind 
which  cannot  retain  and  combine  its  experiences.  A 
child  may  have  an  abundance  of  sense-impressions,  but 
we  cannot  speak  of  the  child's  mind  as  being  in  a  process 
of  development  unless  these  impressions  are  being  woven 
into  coherent  wholes.  In  brief,  mental  development  in 
the  individual  in  one  of  its  essential  aspects,  is  a  process 
of  uniting,  combining  the  elements  which  form  the  raw 
material  of  the  individual's  mental  Hfe.  In  the  para- 
graphs which  follow  we  shall  try  to  show  what  the  earliest 
associations  formed  by  an  infant  are  like,  and  how  they 
are  formed. 

At  this  point,  a  word  is  in  order  regarding  the  general 
nature  of  the  child's  first  associations,  and  particularly 
with  reference  to  the  manner  in  which  his  first  ideas  of 
things  are  formed.  From  some  accounts  of  the  way  in 
which  the  child  mind  builds  up  its  ideas,  one  gets  the 
impression  that  it  is  by  a  process  of  uniting  sense- 
impressions  with  one  another  until  the  list  of  originally 
discrete  sense-products  or  attributes  is  woven  or  fused 
into  a  whole  which  is  the  idea  of  the  thing.  One's  idea 
of  a  rose,  a  pebble,  an  orange  is  formed,  according  to  the 
Associationist's  description,  by  each  sense  furnishing  one 
element  which  is  associated  with  the  material  furnished 


ASSOCIATION  185 

by  other  senses,  "  such  association,"  to  use  Bain's  words, 
"  when  matured  and  firm,  is  (being),  our  idea,  our  intellec- 
tual grasp  of  the  pebble,"  rose,  orange  —  what  not.^  So, 
according  to  this  view,  a  child  forms  his  idea  of  an  orange 
by  getting  first  from  the  different  special  senses  the  par- 
ticular qualities  or  attributes  of  the  orange — color,  form, 
taste,  smell,  weight,  temperature,  and  a  certain  touch 
sensation  —  and  then  combining  these  disconnected  ele- 
ments into  the  idea  of  the  orange. 

Now  we  should  certainly  go  very  far  astray  if  we  should 
accept  this,  the  Associationist's  account  of  the  formation 
of  our  ideas,  and  think  of  the  baby's  first  mental  processes 
as  consisting  of  separate,  definite,  clean-cut  sensations  of 
sight,  touch,  sound,  taste,  temperature,  which  later  are 
fused  into  coherent  wholes  called  "  perceptions "  or 
«  ideas."  James'  description  is  much  nearer  the  truth. 
"  The  baby,"  he  writes,  "  assailed  by  eyes,  ears,  nose, 
skin,  and  entrails  at  once,  feels  it  all  as  one  great  blooming, 
buzzing  confusion."  The  same  thought  is  generalized  by 
James  as  follows :  "Any  number  of  impressions,  from 
any  number  of  sensory  sources,  falling  simultaneously  on 
a  mind  which  has  not  yet  experienced  them  separately, 
will  fuse  into  a  single  undivided  object  for  that  mind. 
The  law  is  that  all  things  fuse  that  can  fuse,  and  nothing 
separates  except  what  must."  ^     This  certainly  gives  one 

'  See  James,  Principles  of  Psychology,  Vol.  I,  p.  485.  ^r 

«  Op.  cit..  Vol.  I,  p.  488.  ^ 


1 86  FIRST   STEPS   IN   MENTAL   GROWTH 

a  truer  conception  of  the  baby's  mind  in  the  early  days 
and  weeks  than  to  think  of  it  as  made  up  of  a  vast  num- 
ber of  disconnected  sense-experiences.  And  yet,  almost 
from  the  first,  differentiation  within  the  "  blooming,  buz- 
zing confusion  "  does  take  place,  some  parts  stand  out  more 
prominently,  and  these  are  fused  with  other  prominent 
parts  or  factors  of  the  total  experience.  Associations  are 
formed  almost  from  the  first. 

These  earliest  associations,  as  we  should  expect,  re- 
late to  the  food-taking  process,  which,  to  the  child, 
is  the  most  interesting  and  most  important  func- 
tion of  this  early  period.  Thus,  the  first  association 
which  R.  formed  —  semi-organic  no  doubt  —  was  be- 
tween a  given  position  in  the  mother's  arms  and 
the  act  of  nursing,  first  noted  on  the  fifth  day.  The 
child  was  crying  from  hunger  and  when  laid  in  the 
mother's  arms  in  the  nursing  position,  ceased  crying 
and  began  to  utter  a  little  note  of  anticipation  (impossi- 
ble to  describe  in  print)  of  contentment  in  vague  ex- 
pectation —  so  it  seemed  —  of  the  meal.  The  obser- 
vation was  repeated  on  the  tenth  and  twenty-seventh 
days  with  results  which  confirmed  the  accuracy  of  the 
earlier  observation.  Even  as  early  as  the  second  day 
the  child  J.  began  to  move  the  lips  and  head  as  if  to  get 
the  breast  as  soon  as  he  was  laid  near  the  breast  in  the 
nursing  position.  This  note  was  verified  on  the  fourth, 
fifth,  and  seventh  days  so  as  to  leave  no  doubt  that  the 


ASSOCIATION  187 

child  made  efforts  to  get  the  breast  as  soon  as  he  was 
placed  in  a  position  for  nursing.  Tiedemann  thought 
he  saw  the  beginnings  of  association  on  the  eighteenth 
day ;  thus,  when  a  soft  hand  touched  the  face  of  a  crying 
child  he  ceased  crying  and  put  himself  in  the  position 
for  taking  food.  ^  Observations  similar  to  these  al- 
ready mentioned  were  made  by  Miss  Shinn  in  her 
niece's  fourth  week;  for  example,  that  the  child  when 
crying  with  hunger  would  hush  as  soon  as  she  was 
taken  in  arms  in  the  position  usual  in  nursing,  "  as  if 
she  recognized  the  preliminaries  and  knew  she  was  about 
to  be  satisfied."  "  It  was  not  memory,"  Miss  Shinn 
continues,  "  but  a  clear  instance  of  the  working  of  that 
great  law  of  association."  The  "  feeling "  of  that  par- 
ticular position  had  become  associated  with  the  feeling 
of  satisfied  hunger.  From  these  observations  it  appears 
that  an  association  between  the  act  of  nursing  and  the 
position  for  nursing  is  formed  very  early,  well  within 
the  first  month,  and  often  in  the  very  first  days.  To 
be  sure,  in  these  early  days,  we  have  difficulty  in  telling 
whether  we  have  a  true  instance  of  association  or  merely 
instinctive  behavior.  It  is  possible  that  the  child's 
first  wriggling  to  get  the  breast  is  set  going  by  touch ' 
or  odor  rather  than  a  faint  fore-feeling  of  the  act  of 
nursing  and  satisfied  hunger.  And  yet  with  a  full  rec- 
ognition of  the  difficulty  of  describing  exactly  the 
»  Quoted  by  Tracy,  Psychology  of  Childhood^  P«  52.  ^ 


l88  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

state  of  mind  of  a  two  weeks  old  infant,  we  may  say 
with  a  fair  degree  of  confidence  that  during  the  first 
two  weeks  the  various  steps  in  the  food-taking  process 
become  blended  so  that  the  appearance  of  one  tends 
to  revive  the   others. 

By  the  end  of  the  first  month,  Miss  Shinn's  niece  had 
distinguished  between  being  alone  and  being  in  a  room 
with  people,  and  between  being  held  in  the  lap  and 
being  laid  on  a  couch.  Stated  generally,  the  first  in- 
stance means  that  the  disturbance  of  the  customary 
state  of  things  —  being  with  people  —  caused  a  feeling 
of  uneasiness ;  and  the  second,  that  "  associations  of 
pleasure  had  been  formed  with  the  lap,  and  she  felt  a 
vague  discomfort  in  the  absence  of  these."  (These 
last  mentioned  associations  might  also  be  described 
as  examples  of  "  habit  memory  "  which  will  be  taken  up 
in  the  next  chapter.) 

The  associations  which  are  formed  during  the  first 
month  are  largely  physical,  organic  in  nature.  What- 
ever consciousness  accompanies  them  is  dim,  vague  — 
is  more  a  feeling  than  a  clear  apprehension  of  the 
factors  involved.  When  we  pass  to  the  second  month 
we  find  that  the  associations,  while  still  centering,  in 
the  main,  about  the  food-taking  process,  show  advance 
in  number  and  range,  and  in  clearer  definition  of  the 
factors  entering  into  the  association  groups.  Miss  Shinn 
observed  that  her  niece,  when  six  weeks  old,  if  fretting 


ASSOCIATION  189 

with  hunger  ceased  crying  as  soon  as  she  was  hfted  to 
be  taken  up,  and  a  few  days  later  "  the  child  would  hush 
crying  from  hunger  as  soon  as  her  mouth  was  washed 
out  —  a  ceremony  that  invariably  came  before  nursing." 
In  this  instance  there  was  an  association  apparently 
between  certain  sensations  in  the  mouth  and  the  idea 
of  her  meal. 

Early  in  the  third  monthy  R.  had  associated  nursing 
with  certain  preliminaries  to  his  getting  his  meals, 
and  made  a  peculiar,  fretting,  grunting  cry  when  the 
breast  was  being  prepared ;  but  the  sight  of  the  breast 
was  not  enough,  at  that  time,  to  suggest  the  act  of 
nursing.  Other  associations  which  showed  a  marked 
advance  both  in  the  number  and  in  definiteness  of  the 
factors  involved  in  the  associations  formed  were:  —  (i) 
between  the  sight  of  objects  held  over  him  and  the 
desire  to  touch  them  with  his  fingers.  That  is,  when 
an  object — as  a  watch — was  held  over  the  child  his 
hand  would  go  toward  the  suspended  article  as  he  gaze<i 
at  it.  This  as  we  saw  in  another  place  (p.  24f.)  was  an 
early  step  in  the  process  of  learning  to  grasp  at  what- 
ever was  near  him,  a  coordination  which  was  not  per- 
fected until  much  later.  (2)  About  the  same  time,  the 
child  would  look  at  and  "  feel "  his  fingers  by  the  half 
hour.  This  exercise  must  have  started  the  welding 
in  the  child's  consciousness  of  the  sight  of  his  fingers 
with  their  "  feel."     In  the  last  week  of  the  third  month, 


I90  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

it  was  noticed  that  the  touch  of  an  object  set  up  the 
desire  to  clasp  it.  It  seemed  that  he  had  learned  that 
whatever  could  be  touched  could  also  be  clasped ;  touch 
pulled  the  •*  clasping  trigger."  In  the  same  week,  the 
child  recognized  his  nursing  bottle.  Whenever  it  was 
held  over  him  he  uttered  httle,  fretful,  half  laughing 
cries  until  it  was  given  to  him.  Another  association 
which  was  more  of  the  nature  of  a  reflex,  and  which 
appeared  early  in  the  month  was  between  clasping  one's 
garments  and  pulling  at  them.  In  the  earlier  weeks, 
if  an  object  which  he  had  clasped  was  given  the  slight- 
est pull,  he  would  let  go ;  now  he  holds  on  and  pulls. 
In  this  month,  we  saw  also  the  first  steps  towards  look- 
ing for  sounds.  As  early  as  the  sixty-eighth  day,  if 
one  stood  outside  the  child's  field  of  vision  and  shook 
a  rattle  or  rang  a  bell,  he  would  move  his  head  about 
as  if  looking  for  the  source  of  the  sound.  "  Yet,"  as 
the  note  reads,  "  these  first  wrigglings  may  have  been 
due  to  restlessness,  a  mere  disturbance,  such  as  sounds 
will  produce,  particularly  strange  ones,  in  the  very 
early  weeks."  On  the  seventy-third  day,  I  stood  to 
the  Ipft  and  in  the  rear  of  the  child's  crib  so  he  could 
not  see  me  and  spoke  to  him.  On  that  occasion,  there 
could  have  been  little  doubt  that  he  was  trying  by  turn- 
ing and  wriggling  about  to  find  the  source  of  the  sound. 
He  likewise  turned  when  I  stood  in  the  same  place  and 
rang  a  small  breakfast  bell.     He  had  often  heard    my 


ASSOCIATION  191 

voice  and  he  often  had  the  bell  as  a  plaything,  and  it 
seemed  probable,  that  the  voice-sound  and  the  bell- 
sound  had  blended  in  his  mind  with  some  sort  of  vis- 
ual images  which  were  revived  in  the  experiment. 

Miss  Shinn,  with  her  usual  exactness  and  appreciation 
of  details,  describes  a  number  of  associations  which  fell 
within  her  niece's  third  month.  In  the  last  days  of  the 
month,  her  niece  completed  **  a  chain  of  association " 
made  up  of  certain  groping  movements  of  the  hands 
toward  a  spool  or  rattle,  feelings  of  touch,  feeUngs  of 
clasping  and  lifting,  and  finally  "  more  lively  and  pleasing  " 
feelings  in  the  mouth.  She  did  not,  however,  yet  look  at 
the  objects  so  grasped  and  carried  to  the  mouth ;  "  the 
sight-motor  and  touch-motor  series  had  not  yet  co- 
alesced." 

'  In  the  fourth  month,  J.  associated  the  act  of  clasping 
his  nursing  bottle  with  the  act  of  carrying  it  to  his  mouth. 
As  soon  as  his  hands  were  around  the  bottle  he  tried  to 
get  the  nipple  in  his  mouth.  We  have  already  spoken 
of  the  beginnings  of  the  grasping  movement.  By  the  end 
of  R.'s  fourth  month,  he  seldom  failed  to  grasp  at  objects 
held  over  him  within  reaching  distance  (p.  26).  The 
sight  of  a  near-by  object  was  associated  with  the  grasping 
movement.  That  is,  the  sight-motor  and  the  touch- 
motor  series  had  coalesced. 

Miss  Shinn,  after  quoting  John  Fiske's  generalization  that, 
"Vision  and  manipulation  —  these  in  their  countless  and  indi- 


192  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

rect  and  transfigured  forms  are  the  two  cooperating  factors  in 
all  intellectual  progress,"  gives  an  excellent  illustration  of  the 
way  these  two  functions  —  vision  and  manipulation  —  cooperate 
to  extend  the  baby's  first  ideas  of  the  world  of  concrete  things. 
I  quote  the  entire  passage : 

'*  The  first  great  result  is  the  completion  of  vision  itself.  It 
cannot  be  doubted  that  it  is  mainly  by  studying  objects  with 
eye  and  hand  together  that  we  get  our  ability  to  see  solid  form. 
A  colt  grasping  his  ear  of  corn  with  his  teeth,  even  a  puppy 
licking  and  turning  his  bone  all  over,  or  a  kitten  tapping  a 
spool  to  and  fro  and  hugging  it  in  her  paws,  without  losing 
sight  of  it  —  none  of  these  can  bring  the  united  powers  of  three 
senses  to  bear  on  an  object  so  perfectly  as  a  monkey  or  human 
baby  can,  holding  it  in  the  most  convenient  positions,  turning 
it  this  way  and  that,  seeing  every  part,  feeling  it  with  finger- 
tips and  mouth ;  and  it  is  doubtful  if  the  quadrupeds  ever  at- 
tain to  as  clear  a  sense  of  form  as  we  do."  * 

In  the  fifth  month  the  child  R.'s  mental  life  was  mainly  in 
a  world  of  sensations  and  sensation  complexes,  the  gains  n 
the  field  of  association  being  increased  knowledge  of  tne 
sense  attributes  of  objects  —  gained  through  sight,  touch, 
hearing,  muscular  sensation  and  so  forth,  and  the  fusing  of 

»  The  Biography^of  a  Baby,  p.  144. 

Note.— Darwin  says  that  his  boy,  in  the  fifth  month,  associated  having 
his  wraps  put  on  with  going  out  of  doors.  We  watched  for  signs  of  a  sim- 
ilar association  in  R.'s  mind  for  three  months  beginning  with  the  fourth, 
but  saw  nothing  of  the  kind.  The  child  nearly  always  became  fretful  when 
his  wraps  were  put  on,  and  particularly  his  hood  which  he  disliked  very 
much  to  have  on  his  head.  I  thought  as  I  watched  the  child  that  possi- 
bly Darwin  had  mistaken  fretfulness  arising  from  dislike  of  being  dressed 
for  crying  because  he  was  not  taken  out  of  doors.  At  any  rate,  it  was  not 
until  the  twelfth  month  that  we  had  clear  proof  that  dressing  R.,  and  get- 
ting his  carriage  ready  aroused  in  his  mind  an  anticipation  of  an  outing. 


ASSOCIATION  193 

these  attributes  into  ideas  of  objects  more  or  less  distinct ; 
also  in  increased  abilities  to  sense  direction  and  to  judge 
distances.  .  .  .  My  notes  on  Association  for  the  sixth 
month  are  so  meager  that  I  am  obliged  to  go  to  Miss 
Shinn's  full  account  for  illustrations  of  the  working  of  the 
associative  process  in  that  month,  with  the  remark  that 
beginning  with  the  sixth  month  Miss  Shinn's  niece's  de- 
velopment was  so  rapid  compared  with  R.'s  that  further 
comparison  of  the  development  of  the  two  children  is  im- 
practicable. In  this  month,  Miss  Shinn's  niece  began  to 
throw  things  on  the  floor  to  see  them  fall,  a  movement 
which  I  did  not  see  in  either  of  my  children  until  the 
ninth  month.  She  also  associated  the  idea  of  a  spoon 
with  milk  in  the  spoon.  When  given  a  spoon  for  which 
she  had  been  asking  she  was  still  discontented,  "  till  we 
found  that  she  wished  to  have  milk  in  it  as  she  knew  befitted 
a  spoon  —  though  for  the  milk  itself  she  did  not  care  at 
all."  In  the  same  month.  Miss  Shinn  saw  the  beginnings 
of  language,  both  sign  language  and  spoken  language, 
which  in  an  important  sense  are  dependent  upon  the  as- 
sociative process.  For  example,  the  sound  of  her  name 
(Ruth)  had  become  associated  with  "  interesting  expe- 
riences—  with  frolics  and  caresses,  and  trips  outdoors, 
with  relief  from  discomforts,  with  dinners,  and  all  the 
other  things  that  happened  when  people  were  attending 
to  her."  Hardly  less  precocious  was  the  child's  making 
signs  by  pulling  at  a  table-cloth  to  tell  her  aunt  that  she 


194  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

wanted  to  be  placed  upon  the  table  in  order  that  she 
might  repeat  the  interesting  creeping  experience  which 
the  child's  grandmother  had  furnished  a  few  hours  before. 
This  was  a  clear  case  of  memory ;  she  remembered  the 
experience  of  the  earlier  hour,  or,  in  association  terms,  the 
sight  or  "  feel "  of  the  table-cloth  revived  the  sensations 
of  creeping  on  the  table,  of  being  held,  and  all  the  other 
interesting  things  a  grandmother  would  throw  about  the 
training.  .  .  .  Only  one  note  from  my  record  for  the 
sixth  month  properly  belongs  in  an  account  of  the  devel- 
opment of  association,  —  namely,  that  early  in  the  month 
the  child  R.  had  formed  a  firm  association  between  grasp- 
ing one's  fingers  and  being  pulled  to  a  sitting  position. 
He  had  been  helped  to  a  sitting  posture  so  often  by  being 
allowed  to  clasp  our  fingers,  then  pulling,  that  finger 
clasping  now  suggested  the  pull. 

I  have  no  notes  on  Association  for  the  seventh  month. 
Two  observations  of  the  eighth  month  were  that  R.  asso- 
ciated his  shaking  a  bell  and  a  newspaper  with  the 
sounds  which  they  made  when  shaken.  The  muscular  and 
tactile  sensations  of  shaking  had  become  associated  with 
the  sound  made  by  the  paper  in  the  one  case,  and  with 
the  ringing  of  the  bell  in  the  other. 

We  have  seen  in  the  discussion  of  "  Reaching  and 
Grasping  "  (p.  22fir.),  that  that  function  was  well  established 
by  the  beginning  of  R.'s  fifth  month.  By  the  ninth 
month,  reaching  for  things  had  become  almost  a  mania ; 


ASSOCIATION  195 

the  child  wanted  to  get  his  hands  on  everything  he  saw. 
The  sight  of  an  object  set  the  reaching  process  going. 
Another  association  was  between  the  sight  of  a  person 
coming  near  his  crib  and  being  taken  up.  Whenever  one 
went  near  his  crib  he  would  stretch  up  his  arms  to  be 
taken.  Another  more  noticeable  association  was  between 
the  sound  of  footsteps  outside  the  door  of  his  room  and 
the  idea  that  some  one  was  coming  into  the  room.  When 
the  steps  were  heard,  the  child  would  turn  toward  the 
door  in  expectation.  In  this  month,  as  has  been  stated 
already,  the  child  first  looked  for  objects  which  he  let  fall 
on  the  floor,  seeming  to  understand  that  an  object  which 
had  fallen  from  his  hands  could  be  seen  by  looking  down- 
ward. 

A  somewhat  more  special  form  of  the  watching- 
door-for-person  association  was  formed  in  the  tenth 
month  when  the  child,  if  hungry,  would  eagerly  watch  a 
certain  door  through  which  his  food  was  brought  after 
being  prepared  in  another  part  of  the  house.  If  footsteps 
were  heard  in  the  direction  of  that  particular  door  his 
face  assumed  a  marked  expression  of  anticipation,  which 
quickly  passed  into  one  of  keen  disappointment  if  the 
milk  was  not  forthcomiag. 

An  observation  made  in  the  last  week  of  the  tenth 
month  (and  already  reported  in  another  connection, 
p.  92),  showed  well  how  closely  the  child's  associations 
were  bound  up  with  and  limited  by  his  experience,  and 


196  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

with  what  difficulty  he  was  able  to  get  beyond  that  ex- 
perience in  seeing  relations,  as  follows :  the  child  was 
startled  by  the  shrill  whistle  of  an  approaching  loco- 
motive ;  but  since  he  did  not  associate  the  sound  of  the 
whistle  with  the  sight  of  the  locomotive  the  momentary 
alarm  which  he  experienced  did  not  spread  to  the  sight  of 
the  engine,  and  he  continued  to  watch  it  with  the  same 
keen  interest  and  pleasure  which  preceded  the  shrill  whis- 
tle ;  whereas,  it  seems  likely  that  if  he  had  located  the 
source  of  the  whistle  in  the  engine  the  latter  would  have 
been  viewed  with  increasing  alarm  the  nearer  it  ap- 
proached. 

By  the  beginning  of  R.'s  eleventh  month,  associations 
were  forming  with  great  rapidity,  the  newest  ones  being 
in  the  field  of  language.  A  number  of  observers  report 
associations  between  objects  and  the  spoken  names  of  the 
objects  before  the  end  of  the  first  half  year.  And  it  is 
even  more  frequently  noticed  that  children  begin  early  in 
the  second  half  of  the  first  year  to  understand  requests 
which  others  make  of  them.  The  child  R.,  whose  lan- 
guage development  was  relatively  slow,  did  not  show  that 
he  understood  the  speech  of  others  until  the  eleventh 
month  when  he  first  understood  the  request,  "  say  so  and 
so."  Thus,  if  one  said  to  him,  "  Say  baba,"  or  any  sim- 
ilar simple  combination,  the  child  at  once  tried  to  do  as 
suggested.  He  seemed  to  know  what  was  expected  of 
him  when  he  heard  the  words,  "  Say  so  and  so  " ;  or  per- 


ASSOCIATION  197 

haps  it  was  not  the  separate,  distinct  words  which  he  un- 
derstood so  much  as  the  particular  emphasis  on  the  final 
word,  the  copy,  which  set  up  the  speech  activity  on  his 
part.  It  was,  at  any  rate,  an  association  between  a  cer- 
tain sound  which  he  heard  and  an  effort  to  repeat  the 
copy.  Other  associations  of  the  month  were  between  the 
squeeze  of  a  toy  and  its  squeak.  (In  this  connection  a 
word  of  caution  is  in  order.  At  first  thought,  when 
watching  a  performance  of  this  sort,  one  says,  ♦'  why,  of 
course  the  child  squeezes  the  toy  in  order  to  hear  the 
squeak."  But  reflection  will  show  that  the  case  is  not 
quite  so  clear  as  seems  at  first  sight.  It  is  entirely  possi- 
ble, even  likely,  that  during  the  first  few  times  this  move- 
ment is  performed  there  is  no  association  at  all  between 
the  muscular  feeling  or  sensation  and  the  sound  which 
the  squeezing  motion  makes.  The  child  by  accident 
gives  the  toy  a  squeeze  and  the  sound  results.  But  we 
should  be  in  error  to  think  that  the  next  squeeze  which 
he  gives  the  toy  is  in  order  to  make  the  noise.  On  the 
contrary,  it  is  likely  that  the  second  and  many  succeed- 
ing squeezes  are  merely  continuations  of  the  first  motion 
owing  to  a  kind  of  inertia  of  the  muscles  which  keeps 
them  going  in  a  particular  way  when  they  are  once  set 
going.  At  first,  the  squeak  is  not  related  to  the  squeeze, 
and  if  it  does  not  cause  fright,  as  in  the  case  of  Champ-  « y 
neys'  boy,  its  influence  on  the  tendency  to  repeat  ,the 
pressing  motion  is  nil.     The  squeezing  motion  is  contin- 


198  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

ued  because  it  is  pleasant  and  because  of  the  principle  of 
inertia  already  mentioned.  But  after  a  time,  doll-in-hand 
does  suggest  the  squeeze  in  order  to  hear  the  squeak.) 
Another  association  of  R.'s  eleventh  month  was  between 
the  sight  of  an  open  hand  extended  toward  him  and  the 
act  of  putting  whatever  he  happened  to  have  in  his  hand 
in  the  extended  hand.  This  was  an  association  which 
had  been  built  up  by  a  course  of  training,  as  follows : 
Very  often  the  child  got  hold  of  dangerous  articles 
like  pins,  knives,  forks  and  so  on,  and  instead  of  tak- 
ing them  from  him  he  was  taught  to  put  them  in  our 
hands. 

In  this  connection  it  is  of  interest  to  note  that  while 
some  of  R.'s  associations  were  between  percepts  and 
memory  images,  that  the  greater  number,  in  the  first  year, 
were  between  percepts  —  usually  tactile,  visual  or  auditory 
—  and  definite,  uniform,  motor  responses  on  the  child's 
part,  such  associations  as  the  one  just  mentioned  —  sight 
of  an  open  hand  held  toward  him  and  placing  in  it  what- 
ever he  had  in  his  own  hand.  (We  have  in  mind  here 
reactions  only  which  have  been  learned,  excluding  reflex 
and  instinctive  actions.)  Among  the  earliest  actions  of 
the  latter  class,  i.  e.,  actions  which  followed  sense- 
percepts,  were  —  shaking  a  newspaper  as  soon  as  he  got 
hold  of  one  (eighth  month);  turning  toward  a  door 
when  he  heard  steps  in  the  hall  outside  (ninth  month) ; 
pulling  at  a  drawer-knob  to  get  a  drawer  open  (eleventh 


ASSOCIATION  199 

month);  squeezing  a  doll  to  make  it  squeak,  putting 
things  in  an  open  hand  extended  toward  him  (eleventh 
month).  To  this  class  of  associations  belong  also  in- 
stances of  R.'s  understanding  and  carrying  out  another's 
verbal  requests  like  —  lying  down  and  closing  the  eyes 
when  one  said  to  the  child, "  go  to  sleep,"  which  was 
noted  in  the  twelfth  month.  To  the  same  class  be- 
long also  naming  things  on  sight,  numerous  illus- 
trations of  which  are  given  in  the  chapter  on  Language. 
A  given  sensation  calls  forth  a  definite  motor  response. 
The  child  sees,  hears  or  gets  his  hands  on  a  given  article 
and  speaks  its  name.  The  sensation  revives  the  verbal 
reaction.  One  more  illustration  of  this  class  of  associa- 
tions, percept-motor,  was  noted  in  the  twelfth  month  as 
follows  :  a  hair-brush  in  his  hand  was  followed  at  once  by 
a  rough  attempt  to  brush  his  hair,  rubbing  the  brush 
over  his  head  in  rough  imitation  of  one  brushing  the 
hair. 

In  R.'s  twelfth  month  the  growth  of  the  language 
association  group  was  of  most  interest.  By  the  end  of 
the  first  year  the  child  had  learned  the  names  of  a  few 
objects  which  he  saw  daily  and  whose  names  he  fre- 
quently heard,  e.g.,  "street-car"  and  "bird."  He  had 
also  associated  the  request,  "  Warm  your  hands,"  with 
the  act  of  holding  out  his  hands  as  one  does  in  order 
to  warm  them.  This  had  been  taught  the  child  by 
speaking  these  words  to  him,  and  at  the  same  time  hold- 


200       '    FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

ing  his  hands  in  the  proper  position  for  warming.  The 
child  learned  also  that  he  could  get  a  desired  object 
which  was  concealed  in  another  person's  hand  by  pulling 
away  the  fingers  one  at  a  time  until  the  object  lay  in  full 
view.  For  example,  if  one  showed  the  child  a  locket  or 
bright  coin,  then  laid  it  in  the  hand  and  clasped  the 
fingers  over  it,  then  held  the  hand  so  the  child  could  tug 
at  it,  he  would  work,  pulHng  up  one  finger  at  a  time  until 
he  got  the  article.  He  also  learned  that  if  an  article 
which  he  saw  one  holding  was  not  found  in  one  hand  it 
was  likely  to  be  found  in  the  other.  Thus,  if  one  clasped 
a  coin  in  one  hand,  then  gave  him  the  other  hand  to  tug 
at  and  open,  he  would  work  faithfully  until  he  opened 
the  empty,  deceptive  hand ;  not  finding  the  coin,  he 
would  then  grasp  the  other  hand  and  continue  his  search. 
It  seemed  that  his  mind  acted  somewhat  as  follows : 
the  closed  hand  meant  or  suggested,  as  the  result  of 
former  experiences,  that  it  contained  a  coin  or  locket ; 
the  sight  of  the  closed  hand  suggested  "  something  is 
in  it."  The  examination  of  the  one  does  not  verify 
this ;  but  the  association  between  the  sight  of  the  closed 
hand  and  the  idea  of  its  contents  persists  and  he  acts  on 
that ;  that  is,  begins  to  tug  at  the  second  hand. 

We  have  now  followed  in  outline  the  process  of  form- 
ing associations  through  the  first  year.  We  have  seen 
that  the  early  associations  are  between  large,  poorly 
defined   blocks    of   sense-experience.     Later   we   found 


ASSOCIATION  20I 

combinations  between  smaller  and  more  clearly  defined 
sense-impressions ;  and  still  later  we  saw  the  blending  of 
percepts  and  definite  motor  responses ;  also  of  sense  per- 
cepts and  images.  We  have  found  only  a  few  clear  and 
unmistakable  instances  of  the  revival  in  consciousness  of 
one  image  by  another.  There  were  numerous  instances 
of  percepts  calling  up  images,  but  few  of  images  reviving 
other  images.  We  shall  not  at  this  point  follow  the 
process  of  association  further  for  the  reason  that  later 
development  follows  substantially  the  same  directions  as 
those  already  indicated ;  and  also  for  the  reason  that 
activities  of  the  second  and  third  years  which  involve  as- 
sociation are  classed  more  easily  under  other  topics,  par- 
ticularly Memory,  Language,  and  Imitation. 


CHAPTER  X 

MEMORY 

A  MEMORY  image  may  be  described  objectively  as  a  men- 
tal image  which  resembles  closely  a  former  image,  a  real 
thing,  or  event.  Subjectively  regarded,  memory  images 
of  developed  minds  are  accompanied  by  the  feeling  of 
familiarity,  or  mood  of  at-homeness,  as  Titchener  de- 
scribes it,  and  also  by  the  belief  that  the  image  relates 
to  a  real  object,  event,  or  situation,  and  still  further  by 
the  consciousness  that  the  object,  event,  or  situation  is 
not  at  the  moment  present  to  the  senses. 

In  this  chapter  we  shall  first  describe  some  of  the  rudi- 
mentary forms  of  memory,  the  processes  out  of  which 
memory  proper  develops  ;  second,  we  shall  indicate  some 
of  the  more  striking  differences  between  the  memory  of 
the  adult  and  that  of  the  infant. 

RUDIMENTARY   MEMORY 

Memory  is  often  described  as  the  fundamental  process 
in  mental  development,  the  meaning  being  that  if  the 
results  of  mental  experience  were  not  retained,  related, 
formed  into  groups,  revived  and  recognized,  the  essential 
process  in  mental  development  would  be  lacking  :  we 
should  have  a  series  of  separate,  independent   mental 

202 


MEMORY  203 

units,  but  not  a  developing  mind.  One  may  go  even 
further  and  maintain  that  if  there  were  no  memory  there 
could  be  no  mental  experience,  no  consciousness  what- 
ever. ^  The  mere  awareness  of  a  sensation  —  say  of 
touch  or  temperature,  it  may  be  said,  is  proof  of  the  ex- 
istence of  what  one  may  call  "  elementary  "  or  "  individ- 
ual "  memory  ;  it  involves  the  consciousness  of  difference 
—  a  rudimentary  form  of  judgment  —  and  this  in  turn 
presupposes  an  awareness  of  two  conditions  —  a  past  in 
memory,  and  a  present. 

Excepting  the  elementary  memory  just  referred  to  as 
the  presupposition  of  all  mental  experience,  probably  the 
first  phenomena  in  the  line  of  ascent  toward  developed 
memory,  the  first,  crude  beginnings  of  memory,  are  found, 
as  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter,  in  the  earliest 
associations  relating  to  the  food-taking,  and  other  or- 
ganic processes.  Other  rudimentary  forms  of  memory 
which  make  their  appearance  during  the  first  year  are  : 
first,  "  habit  memory "  as  Miss  Shinn  calls  it ;  second, 
primary  memory  images  ;  third,  imitative  memory.  It  is 
•not  supposed  that  this  list  is  exhaustive  of  the  primitive 
forms  of  memory  as  found  in  infancy  and  early  child- 
hood :  it  aims  only  to  include  some  of  the  forms  and 


*  This,  I  take  it,  is  the  meaning  of  Wundt's  statement,  that  "to  prove 
mentality  we  must  be  able  to  prove  a  persistence  of  the  sense-impres- 
sion,—  some  form  of  memory,  however  elementary."  —  Human  and  An- 
imal JPiychology,  English  trans.,  New  York,  1894,  p.  347. 


204  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

conditions  which  precede  and  are  fundamental  to  memory 
in  the  developed  mind.  Each  of  the  early  forms  of 
memory  just  named  will  be  considered  briefly  on  the 
basis  of  my  own  observations,  and  comparisons  between 
my  own  and  other  records  —  chiefly  that  of  Miss  Shinn. 
Habit- memory.  ^  —  Habit-memory  exists  more  as  a  feel- 
ing than  as  a  clear  apprehension.  Examples  of  habit- 
memory  are  found  in  the  comfortable  feeling  which  the 
baby  experiences  when  his  surroundings  are  familiar,  and 
in  the  feeling  of  discomfort  which  he  experiences  when 
abrupt  changes  are  made  in  his  surroundings.  Miss 
Shinn  reports  the  appearance  of  habit-memory  at  the  end 
of  her  niece's  first  month  when  the  child  showed  con- 
sciousness of  the  difference  between  solitude  and  society. 
The  fear  of  strangers  which  makes  its  appearance  often 
as  early  as  the  third  month  is  due  to  habit-memory.  For 
example,  R.  in  the  seventeenth  week  became  very  sober 
in  the  presence  of  strangers.  Previous  to  this  date  most, 
though  not  all,  strange  faces  were  greeted  with  a  smile 
like  that  which  greeted  the  faces  of  members  of  the 
family.  Other  evidence  that  R.  was  beginning  to  take 
notice  of  the  breaks  in  the  uniformity  of  his  surround- 
ings, and  so  in  a  way  to  remember,  was  witnessed  in  his 
ceasing  to  play  and  remaining  very  quiet  if  one  made 

1  The  term  «  habit-memory,"  no  doubt,  is  open  to  criticism ;  but,  in  the 
absence  of  a  better  one,  it  may  serve  as  a  general  name  for  the  facts 
noted. 


MEMORY  205 

Strange  noises  in  another  part  of  the  house,  as  when 
driving  a  nail,  or  pumping.  Perhaps  one  of  the  earliest 
formed  habit-memories  is  that  of  being  comfortable  in 
warm,  dry  clothing  and  of  being  uncomfortable  if  the 
clothing  is  cold  or  damp,  noticed  first  in  R.'s  fourteenth 
week. 

Ptimary  memory  images,  —  Another  rudimentary  form 
of  memory  is  the  image  or  "  after-shine,"  which  forms 
the  connecting  link  between  the  percept  and  the  memory 
image  proper,  and  which  is  distinguished  frOm  the  mem- 
ory image  mainly  by  the  fact  that  it  has  not  been  organ- 
ized into  the  body  of  the  child's  permanent  experience, 
and  also  by  the  fact  that  the  relation  to  its  object  is 
immediate.  For  instance.  Miss  Shinn  relates  that  her 
niece  in  the  thirteenth  week  "  looked  about  searching 
for  a  lively  young  girl  with  bright  colors  who  had 
been  laughing  and  prattling  to  the  baby,  but  who  owing 
to  a  change  of  position  had  been  lost  to  the  baby's 
sight."  There  persisted  in  the  baby's  mind,  for  a  few 
moments,  a  sort  of  after-shine  of  "  Miss  Charmian  "  after 
she  had  disappeared  from  vision.  "  And  yet,"  Miss 
Shinn  observes,  "  it  was  not  true  memory,  it  was  not 
an  idea  coming  back  ,to  the  mind  after  an  interval." 
In  R.'s  tenth  week  it  was  noticed  that  he  became  fretful 
when  a  light  at  which  he  had  been  staring  was  shaded, 
or  when  he  was  turned  away  from  the  light.  In  these 
cases,  it  seemed  probable  that  an  image  of  the  light  per- 


206  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

sisted  for  a  moment  after  it  disappeared  from  direct  view. 
In  the  fourteenth  week,  R.  showed  clear  signs  of  displeas- 
ure when  toys,  particularly  a  tin  rattle  and  a  bell  with 
which  he  was  playing,  were  taken  from  him.  In  these 
cases  there  must  have  been  a  temporary  persistence  of 
the  images,  vague  and  faint  no  doubt,  of  the  toys  which 
had  disappeared.  A  similar  displeasure  at  the  disappear- 
ance of  a  pleasure-giving  thing  was  observed  in  R.'s 
eighteenth  week  when  a  newspaper  which  he  was  shak- 
ing was  taken  from  him.  This  observation  was  verified 
in  the  twentieth  week.  The  image  which  Hngered  in 
this  instance,  very  likely,  was  a  combination  of  tactual, 
muscular  and  auditory  images,  rather  than  visual ;  he 
missed  the  pleasant  muscular,  touch,  and  hearing  sen- 
sations, which  the  paper  gave  more  than  the  sight  of 
the  paper.  Again  in  the  fiftieth  week,  the  child  cried 
loudly  when  a  big  red  apple  with  which  he  was  playing 
was  taken  from  him.  That  the  image  of  the  apple  was 
fleeting  and  not  hard  to  displace  was  shown  by  the  fact 
that  he  was  easily  quieted  by  being  given  something  else 
with  which  to  play.  These  examples  which  might  be 
multiplied  indefinitely  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  after- 
image form  of  memory,  and  also  to  show  that  it  makes 
its  appearance  very  early. 

Imitative  memory.  —  There  is  a  trace  of  memory  in  all 
imitative  acts  except  those  described  elsewhere  as  reflex 
imitations.     In  order  consciously  to  imitate  it  is  neces- 


MEMORY  207 

sary  to  remember,  at  least  for  a  moment,  the  thing  imi- 
tated, and  conscious  imitation  occurs  frequently,  as  we  saw 
in  the  chapter  on  Imitation,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  first 
year.  In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighth  month  (240th  day) 
R.  tried  to  imitate  his  mother's  putting  a  newspaper  over 
her  head,  sunbonnet  fashion,  a  play  which  gave  him 
great  pleasure.  This  imitative  act  was  a  decided  advance 
over  the  sympathetic  smiles  and  laughter  of  earher  months 
in  response  to  the  smiles  and  laughter  of  the  child's  com- 
panions, and  required  some  memory  for  its  performance. 
In  the  latter  part  of  the  ninth  month  (271st  day),  in  order 
to  amuse  the  child,  I  was  picking  up  and  throwing  down 
in  front  of  him  a  small  tin  box.  At  first  the  child  sat 
laughing  at  the  play,  but  presently  he  reached  over,  picked 
up  the  box  and  gave  it  an  awkward  toss  as  if  trying  to 
throw  it  as  I  was  doing.  This  he  repeated  over  and  over. 
By  the  forty-eighth  week,  shaking  the  hand  in  imitation 
of  one's  waving  a  good-bye,  a  movement  requiring  a  trace 
of  memory  for  its  performance,  had  been  acquired. 
Other  instances  involving  a  memory  factor,  and  appear- 
ing well  within  the  first  year  were,  —  holding  the  head  to 
one  side,  nodding  the  head,  pronouncing  short  syllables 
like  ba  and  a,  brushing  the  hair,  and  so  forth.  R.'s 
second  year  witnessed  an  increasing  number  of  imitative 
actions  which  involved  '"^rger  memory  factors.  For  ex- 
ample, picking  up  and  putting  his  toys  in  a  certain  drawer 
(fifteenth  month),  after  watching  his  mother  perform  this 


208  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

service  for  him  on  a  number  of  former  occasions.  In  the 
same  month,  the  child  got  hold  of  a  newspaper  and  held 
it  before  his  face  mumbling  after  the  manner  of  one  read- 
ing. Further  illustrations  of  imitative  acts  involving  a 
memory  factor  may  be  found  in  the  chapters  on  Lan- 
guage and  on  Imitation. 

DIFFERENCES   BETWEEN   INFANT   AND   ADULT    MEMORY 

In  the  remaining  paragraphs  of  this  chapter,  we  may 
consider  some  of  the  differences  between  the  memory  of 
the  infant  and  that  of  the  adult,  (i)  First,  we  may  speak 
of  the  lack  of  continuity,  the  so-called  weakness  of  the  in- 
fant's memory.  When  we  speak  of  the  adult's  memory  as 
being  stronger  and  as  having  greater  continuity  than  that 
of  the  infant,  we  mean  that  the  mental  impressions  of  the 
adult  are  retained  for  a  longer  period,  for  weeks,  months, 
years,  or  to  the  end  of  his  days ;  whereas,  the  baby  re- 
members for  only  a  moment  or  a  few  seconds.  We  say 
that  the  impressions  on  the  infant's  mind  fade  away  al- 
most the  instant  the  stimulus  ceases.  Compayre  likens 
the  little  child's  mind  to  "  a  delicate  painting  which  the 
brush  must  pass  over  several  times  in  order  to  keep  the 
fleeting  colors,  always  ready  to  disappear  " ;  and  again  to 
the  moving  sands  of  the  seashore,  — "  in  vain  do  you 
mark  them  with  your  footprints  as  the  wave  recedes,  the 
returning  wave  effaces  all."  The  explanation  of  the  fleet- 
ing character  of  the  infant's  mental  impressions  is  found 


MEMORY  209 

in  the  fact  that  the  associations  which  are  formed  are 
weak  and  unsubstantial.  As  was  said  in  an  earHer  para- 
graph, the  bonds  of  association  are  Hke  ropes  of  sand : 
unless  they  are  continually  rebuilt  they  fall  away. 

A  certain  personal  and  psychological  interest  attaches  to 
the  question,  when  do  associations  begin  to  form  between 
the  parts  of  a  given  child's  mental  life,  so  that  although 
weeks  have  passed  since  the  associations  were  formed  or 
renewed  the  reappearance  in  consciousness  of  one  of  the 
links  will  revive  the  others  with  their  attendant  mood  of 
familiarity.  Put  in  another  way,  the  question  is,  how 
early  may  we  find  associations  which  persist  beyond  the 
moment  and  which  endure  although  they  are  not  contin- 
ually renewed?  My  own  observations  on  this  point, 
though  far  from  being  as  thorough  as  one  wishes,  still  will 
serve  to  indicate  the  directions  in  which  one  might  look 
for  answers  in  the  case  of  an  individual  child.  On  R.'s 
41  ith  day  (fourteenth  month)  he  was  playing  with  a  ball, 
roUing  it,  crawling  after  it  and  so  on.  After  awhile  the 
ball  rolled  under  a  couch  out  of  easy  reach  and  he  went 
about  other  play.  A  half  hour  later,  in  order  to  see  whether 
he  would  remember  where  he  had  last  seen  the  ball,  I  said 
to  him,  "  Get  the  ball,  R."  He  at  once  crawled  to  the 
couch,  got  down  on  his  stomach  and  struggled  until  he 
fished  the  ball  out.  This  was  the  first  time  we  noticed  that 
he  remembered  anything  for  more  than  a  few  seconds, 
though  there  must  have  been  earher  instances  not  noted. 


2IO  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

Compayre  quotes  from  Egger's  record  a  similar  observa- 
tion :  "  At  that  age  (fifteen  months)  Emile  seizes  a  toy 
that  he  has  left  or  hidden  under  a  chair ;  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  afterward  I  asked  him  for  it ;  he  goes  straight  to 
the  object  and  brings  it  to  me."  ^  Two  notes  made  in  R.'s 
eighteenth  month  show  that  he  remembered  interesting 
plays  for  periods  of  twenty-four  hours,  or  more,  as  fol- 
lows :  On  a  given  evening  one  of  the  child's  friends 
amused  him  by  showing  him  how  to  roll  a  ball  in  his  dress. 
The  next  evening  the  child  got  a  ball  and  tried  faithfully 
for  a  quarter-hour  to  roll  the  ball  in  his  dress  as  his  friend 
had  on  the  preceding  evening.  On  the  same  evening  the 
child  pulled  grass  and  scattered  it  over  his  clothes  as  his 
mother  had  done  three  evenings  before.  A  note  from 
the  record  .  for  the  nineteenth  month  shows  the  child's 
ability  to  remember  places,  as  follows :  On  the  twelfth 
day  of  the  month  he  was  entertained  by  being  allowed  to 
look  over  a  collection  of  photographs.  After  he  had 
them  for  a  time  they  were  taken  to  another  room  and 
placed  out  of  his  sight.  Four  days  afterward  he  thought 
of  the  pictures,  went  into  the  room  where  he  had  seen 
them  taken,  and  reached  toward  the  shelf  on  which  he 
had  seen  the  pictures  placed.  He  had  not  seen  the  pic- 
tures, and,  so  far  as  we  knew,  had  not  thought  of  them 
since  he  had  them  four  days  before.     The  child's  mem- 

*  Compayre,   The  Intellectual  and  Moral  Development  of  the   Child 
(Appleton  Edition),  Vol.  I,  p.  224. 


MEMORY  211 

ory  for  names  heard  once  was  also  increasing.  On  a  cer- 
tain evening  in  the  latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  month,  I 
pointed  out  and  named  the  moon  for  him.  Three  even- 
ings after,  he  accidentally  caught  sight  of  the  moon, 
reached  toward  it,  and  cried  "  moom."  The  name 
"  moon  "  was  remembered  during  the  interval  of  three 
days.  In  the  same  week  he  recalled,  after  two  days,  the 
sound  "  ba  a "  which  he  had  heard  when  given  a  toy 
lamb.  In  the  twentieth  month,  it  was  noted  that  one  les- 
son was  enough  to  teach  the  child  to  loosen  the  latch  and 
pull  open  an  inside  window-shutter.  After  one  lesson  he 
also  remembered  for  three  days  to  get  a  cane  and  knock 
a  ball  from  under  a  bookcase. 

In  the  cases  of  remembering  just  cited  we  may  sup- 
pose that  the  associations  had  not  been  renewed  since 
they  were  first  formed ;  that  the  child  had  reached  the 
age  when  impressions  and  associations  persisted  for 
several  days  even  when  they  were  not  renewed  in  the 
interval.  It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  follow  the  recoro^^ 
further  month  by  month.  It  shows  that  an  increasing  i 
number  of  experiences  were  selected  and  remembered    I 

for  longer  and  longer  periods.     Of  course,  it  is  not  to  be , 

supposed  that  the  child  remembered  all  things  —  names, 
actions,  where  playthings  were  left,  where  people  live, 
persons  he  had  seen,  whether  food  was  good  and  so  forth  ; 
in  fact,  the  things  he  did  not  remember  far  outnumbered 
those  which  he  did,  and  his  failure  to  remember  some 


212  FIRST  StEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

things  and  persons  was  as  striking  as  was  his  ability  to 
remember  others.  Thus  in  the  twenty-first  month  he 
failed  to  recognize  one  of  his  particular  friends  upon  her 
return  after  an  absence  of  five  weeks. 

Children  differ  greatly  in  their  ability  to  remember  friends 
and  members  of  the  family  after  they  have  been  away  from  the 
child  for  a  period.  Compayre  quotes  from  Perez  the  case  of  a 
child  one  year  old  who  after  a  month's  absence  from  home 
recognized  "a  good  old  servant  coming  toward  him;  even 
before  she  had  spoken  his  name  he  smiled  and  held  out  his 
arms  to  her,  fairly  leaping  with  joy."  ^  Tracy  tells  of  a  little 
boy  twenty-three  months  old  who  recognized  him  after  an 
absence  of  nearly  three  weeks.  Tracy '  also  quotes  the  unusual 
case  of  a  child  four  months  old  who  knew  his  nurse  after  an 
absence  of  four  weeks.' 

A  few  illustrations  from  the  record  for  R.'s  third  year 
will  suffice  to  show  the  increasing  tenacity  of  the  child's 
memory.     One  evening  in  the  first  week  of  the  twenty- 

^        >  Compayre,  Op.  cit..  Vol.  I,  p.  214. 

^    'Tracy,  Op.  cit,  p.  50. 

8  The  case  last  cited  raises  a  doubt  whether  the  circumstances  were 
observed  with  enough  care  to  guard  against  all  possible  error.  Some 
children  who  are  not  discriminating  as  to  the  appearance  of  human  faces 
will  often  regard  a  new  face  not  as  new,  but  as  resembling  one  that  they 
see  daily.  We  know  how  easy  it  is  for  a  child  to  mistake  a  stranger  for  a 
member  of  the  family,  even  his  own  mother  or  father.  So  it  may  be  that 
some  of  the  instances  of  apparent  recognition  are  not  really  such,  but 
rather  instances  of  failure  to  discriminate  between  the  appearance  of  the 
person  who  has  returned  after  an  absence  and  other  persons  whom  the 
child  has  seen  all  along.  In  this  connection,  see  record  of  an  experiment 
in  Baldwin's  Mental  Development,  p.  316. 


MEMORY  213 

fifth  month,  R.'s  grandfather  gave  him  a  toy  and  spent 
the  evening  in  showing  the  child  how  to  play  with  it. 
The  toy  —  a  fragile  one  —  was  then  put  away  and  grandpa 
returned  to  his  home.  When,  after  an  interval  of  two 
weeks,  the  toy  was  again  given  to  the  child,  he  said, 
"  Dahaw  "  (his  name  for  grandpa),  showing  that  the  sight 
of  the  toy  recalled  his  grandfather,  or  rather  the  play 
with  the  toy.  .  .  .  On  the  fourth  day  of  his  twenty- 
ninth  month  R.  gave  us  a  great  surprise  by  exclaiming, 
**  Maggie  hut  eah."  Now  Maggie  was  a  girl  who  had 
worked  in  the  house  for  a  week  more  than  three  months 
before,  and  who,  after  the  manner  of  many  fooHsh  per- 
sons, had  told  the  child  she  would  cut  off  his  ears  if  he 
didn't  do  so  and  so.  At  the  time,  the  child  did  not 
seem  particularly  alarmed  by  the  threatened  dismember- 
ment ;  he  seemed  more  impressed  by  the  novelty  of  the 
idea  of  having  his  ears  taken  off,  although  he  also  gath- 
ered the  idea  that  the  operation  would  be  more  or  less 
unpleasant,  that  it  would  *'  hut,"  as  he  afterward  said.  In 
the  first  week  of  the  thirtieth  month  the  child  recognized 
and  named  at  once  his  grandfather  after  an  absence  of 
five  months.  Of  course,  in  this  instance  it  was  not  a 
clear  case  of  "  out  of  sight,  out  of  mind,"  for  he  had 
often  thought  and  spoken  of  his  grandfather  in  the 
interval,  and  on  a  number  of  occasions  he  had  mistaken 
gray-haired  men  for  his  grandfather.  .  .  .  During 
the  twenty-eighth  and  twenty-ninth  months,  while  carry- 


214  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

ing  on  the  experiments  with  the  colors  and  pictures 
described  in  Chapters  VI  and  XIII,  I  had  kept  the  cards 
and  pictures  in  my  study,  and  had  made  the  experiments 
in  that  room.  In  the  first  week  of  the  thirtieth  month 
the  child  went  away  for  the  summer  and  did  not  see  or, 
so  far  as  I  know,  think  of  the  colored  cards  or  pictures 
again  for  a  period  of  six  weeks.  I  then  got  out  the 
cards  and  asked,  "  Where  did  you  used  to  see  these  ? " 
He  answered  at  once,  "  Papa's  oom  "  ;  that  is,  in  papa's 
room.  The  cards  were  associated  with  that  particular 
room.  ...  In  the  last  week  of  the  thirty-fourth 
month  he  remembered,  after  an  interval  of  seven  weeks, 
that  he  had  seen,  "  pigs  in  bon  "  (barn) ;  that  is,  pigs  in 
a  shed  at  a  live-stock  exhibition.  In  the  same  week  he 
pointed  to  a  book  on  a  shelf  in  my  room  saying,  "  Papa 
have  uh  book  Gama  C.'s  " ;  i.  e.,  papa  had  that  book  at 
Grandma  C.'s.  He  remembered  that  I  had  that  particular 
book  at  his  grandmother's  where  we  spent  a  part  of  the 
vacation  two  months  previous.  In  the  thirty-sixth  month 
the  child  related  without  suggestion  a  number  of  his 
observations  and  experiences  of  three  months  before. 
Among  them  were  two  interesting  memories  of  a  "  dog 
show"  that  he  had  witnessed  in  the  preceding  autumn,  as 
follows :  "  wow-wow  on  mukey  "  (a  wow-wow  sat  on  a 
monkey) ;  and  "  ephut  on  tool "  (an  elephant  sat  on  a 
stool).  Another  — "  one  black  man  on  uh  choo-choo, 
hup  Wa  (helped  R.)  on  uh  choo-choo  "  —  referring  to  the 


MEMORY  215 

porter  who  had  helped  him  on  and  off  the  train  when  he 
was  returning  after  his  summer  at  his  grandmother's. 
He  was  also  impressed  by  the  seemingly  prosaic  incident 
of  an  expressman's  calling  for  his  mother's  baggage,  and 
he  related  eight  weeks  afterward  with  great  color  that, 
"Man  git  mamma  kucks  (trunks) — put  on  wagon— ^i 
know  at?" 

(2)  Another  characteristic  of  a  little  child's  memories 
is  that,  as  a  rule,  they  are  not  accurately  localized  in 
time  and  space  as  are  probably  most  adult  memories. 
As  Compayre  observes,  "  The  picture  is  engraved  on  his 
memory,  but  the  setting  has  vanished.  He  remembers 
distinctly  the  things  he  has  seen,  but  he  cannot  tell 
where  or  when  he  saw  them."  *  Compayre's  statement, 
however,  is  not  to  be  taken  with  absolute  literalness, 
particularly  as  regards  the  spatial  settings  of  the  child's 
memories,  unless  he  has  in  mind  the  child  of  less  than  a 
year.  And  it  must  be  remembered  also  that  the  ideas  of 
time  and  space  are  not  equally  difficult  of  acquirement : 
spatial  relations  are  noted  and  remembered  much  earlier 
than  time  relations.  The  idea  of  time  is  clearly  harder: 
it  requires  a  wider  sweep  of  imagination,  a  higher  process 
of  analysis  and  discrimination  to  master  the  ideas  of 
"  now,"  "  to-morrow,"  "  yesterday,"  "  long  ago,"  "  next 
summer,"  than  to  understand  "  far  "  and  "  near,"  "  on  " 

1  op.  cit.t  Vol.  I,  p.  2i9f. 


2l6  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

and  "  under,"  "  in  front,"  "  behind,"  "  inside,"  "  outside  " 
and  the  like.  The  space  relation  seems  to  be  given  as 
part  of  the  idea,  while  the  idea  of  time  seems  more  ab- 
stract, it  is  not  given  as  part  of  the  experience. 

We  have  seen  that  in  R.'s  second  year  he  recalled 
pretty  definitely  the  space  settings  of  a  number  of  his 
memories ;  for  example,  where  toys  were  left,  where  he 
saw  a  favorite  playmate  and  so  on.  But  his  ideas  of  time 
continued  to  be  of  the  haziest  sort,  although  he  had 
begun  in  the  latter  part  of  the  third  year  to  solve  the 
mysteries  of  "  now,"  **  to-morrow,"  "  yesterday,"  and 
the  like.  He  learned  that  when  one  said  in  reply  to  one 
of  his  requests,  "  not  now,  after  while  "  or  *'  to-morrow," 
that  the  satisfaction  of  his  desire  was  to  be  deferred  for  a 
time  at  least,  and  on  these  occasions  the  child  would 
often  protest  with  a  "  no,  now,  now."  Past  events,  un- 
less they  were  recent,  were  referred  to  an  indefinite  "  jass 
summah  "  (last  summer).  Professor  Sully  cites  the  case 
of  "  a  child  of  three  and  a  half  years,  who  had  a  very  pre- 
cise knowledge  of  the  relative  situations  of  the  several 
localities  visited  in  his  walks  (but)  showed  that  he  had 
no  definite  representations  answering  to  such  time  divi- 
sions as  *  this  week,'  '  last  week,'  and  still  tended  to  think 
of  *  yesterday  '  as  an  undefined  past."  ^ 

So  far  as  the  author  knows,  no  one  has  studied  the  develop- 
ment of  the  idea  of  time  in  an  individual  child,  the  manner  in 

1  Human  Mind^  New  York,  1892, 1,  p.  319. 


MEMORY  217 

which  such  words  as  "now,"  "to-morrow,"  "an  hour," 
"  last  week,"  "  next  year  "  and  so  on  acquire  meanings.  From 
my  own  incomplete  observations,  it  seems  probable  that  the 
first  ideas  of  time  are  gained  by  a  simple  process  of  association. 
The  child  hears  "now,"  "to-morrow,"  "last  evening"  in 
connection  with  experiences  which  touch  him  very  closely. 
For  example,  he  is  told  that  he  can  have  a  certain  toy  or  article 
of  food  "  not  now,  but  in  the  morning  "  or  "  to-morrow  "  ;  or 
he  is  reminded  that  certain  interesting  experiences  occurred 
"  last  evening  "  or  "  yesterday."  "  In  the  morning  "  becomes 
associated  first  with  the  idea  of  night,  of  going  to  bed,  or  with  the 
idea  of  having  on  a  favorite  piece  of  clothing;  or  again  "  yes- 
terday "  he  was  "  at  church  "  or  "  at  the  store."  In  some  such 
way  the  time  unit  comes  to  be  broken  into  a  past,  a  present, 
and  a  future  and  these  time-words  come  gradually  to  have 
meanings. 

(3)  Another  difference  between  the  memories  of  the 
baby  and  those  of  the  adult  is  that  the  former  are  sense- 
excited;  they  arise  in  consciousness  immediately  and 
directly  at  the  suggestion  of  a  sense-stimulus,  w^hile  most 
of  the  memories  of  the  developed  mind  appear  in  con- 
nection with  other  memories,  images  are  revived  by  other 
images.  The  same  thought  is  expressed  by  saying  that 
the  baby's  memories  are  peripherally  excited  while  the 
adult's  may  be  aroused  centrally. 

It  may  be  said  generally  that  during  the  first  year  the 
child's  memory-images  are  revived  by  some  sort  of  sense- 
impression.  At  any  rate,  this  was  true  of  R.'s  first  year. 
His  memory-images  were  called  up  by  sensory  stimuli ; 


2l8  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

the  name  of  an  object  was  heard  and  the  image  of  the 
object  appeared  in  consciousness ;  a  doll  in  the  hand  sug- 
gested squeezing  it  to  hear  it  squeak,  are  examples.  We 
have  now  to  report  the  first  instances  in  which  images 
apparently  were  centrally  aroused,  in  which  they  seemed 
to  float  into  consciousness  independently  of  sense-stimuli. 
As  one  might  have  expected,  the  first  evidence  of  the 
presence  of  image  of  this  sort  was  found  in  the  ex- 
pressions of  desires  for  things  not  present  to  sense.^  In 
the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  month  (447th  day),  R.  sud- 
denly, and  seemingly  without  any  suggestion  from  out- 
side, said,  "  baw,"  then  began  to  look  around  for  his 
favorite  toy.  Ten  days  later  the  idea  "  hat "  seemed  sud- 
denly to  pop  into  his  mind  and  he  began  to  cry,  "  ack, 
ack "  (hat,  hat).  (Of  course,  one  cannot  be  perfectly 
sure  that  in  these  instances  the  ball  and  the  hat  were  not 
suggested  by  something  the  child  saw  or  heard  or  touched 
which  recalled  the  images  of  those  articles.  All  one  is 
sure  of  is  that  if  they  were  thus  suggested  that  what  the 
stimulus  was  was  not  known  to  his  companions.) 

Another  instance  (eighteenth  month)  of  what  appeared 
to  be  a  case  of  image  in  mind  which  had  not  been  called 
up   by  a  sense-impression  was  on  the  occaision  of  the 

1  With  reference  to  this  same  point  Mrs.  Moore  writes,  "  When  the  child 
could  by  the  use  of  language  show  that  he  wished  to  have  an  object  not 
present  to  sense  we  may  conclude  that  he  possessed  a  representation  of  the 
object  complete  enough  to  be  associated  as  a  central  figure  with  feelings 
of  pleasure." — Op,  cit.^  p.  91. 


MEMORY  219 

child's  suddenly  exclaiming  "  tschick"  (chick),  then  start- 
ing toward  the  chicken  yard  which  at  the  moment  he 
could  not  see.  I  felt  surer,  however,  about  an  observa- 
tion made  in  the  nineteenth  month,  as  follows :  the  child 
was  playing  about  the  lawn  and  suddenly  cried,  "  baw  " 
and  began  to  run  about  looking  for  the  toy  in  great 
eagerness.  But  even  in  this  case  one  may  suggest  the 
possibility  of  the  idea  of  the  ball  being  peripherally 
aroused.  An  unequivocal  case  of  revival  of  idea  by  idea 
did  not  appear  until  the  twenty-fifth  month,  as  follows : 
R.'s  grandfather  had  made  us  a  visit,  and  while  with  us 
had  played  a  great  deal  with  R.  Five  days  after  the 
visit  ended,  I  asked  R.,  What  did  grandpa  do  ?  he  first 
said  "  baw,  baw,"  meaning  that  grandpa  played  ball  with 
him  which  was  correct ;  then  "  chai,  chai "  (chair)  which 
reminded  us  that  grandpa  when  playing  with  the  child 
had  set  him  in  a  chair  and  crossed  one  leg  over  the  other 
—  a  new  experience  for  R.  —  and  one  which  pleased  him 
greatly.  My  question  had  recalled  some  sort  of  a  mem- 
ory of  his  grandfather  which  at  once  revived  the  memory 
of  playing  with  the  ball.  The  idea  "  grandpa  "  also  re- 
called that  his  grandfather  set  him  on  a  chair  and  crossed 
his  legs.  Another  instance  of  an  idea  appearing  which 
was  not  revived  directly  by  a  sense-stimulus  was  noted 
early  in  the  twenty-eighth  month,  as  follows :  In  com- 
pany with  his  mother  the  child  had  spent  an  hour  at  a 
neighbor's.     While  there  he  played  with  a  child  whom  he 


220  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

heard  called  **  Margaret"  by  the  members  of  the  family. 
The  next  day  the  child  came  to  me  saying  "  Magu, 
Magu."  At  first  I  did  not  know  what  he  meant,  or  was 
trying  to  say ;  then  I  remembered  the  little  neighbor's 
name  and  said,  "  Do  you  mean  Margaret  ?  "  which  he  an- 
swered—  after  his  manner  —  by  a  grunt  and  smiles  —  in 
the  affirmative.  Another  instance  mentioned  already  in 
another  connection  was  his  recalling,  as  if  out  of  the 
**  clear  blue,"  that  he  had  seen  pigs  in  a  shed  at  a  live- 
stock exhibition.  Other  instances  of  seeming  revival  of 
memory  images  without  the  assistance  of  direct  sense- 
stimuH  are  given  on  page  2i4f. 

(4)  Another  notable  difference  between  the  baby's 
mind  and  the  adult's,  a  difference  very  closely  related  to 
that  just  considered,  is  the  absence  in  the  former  of  what 
are  called  "  trains  of  imagery."  In  the  developed  mind, 
most  of  the  images  which  flow  into  consciousness  are 
called  there  in  the  train  of  other  images.  An  idea  ap- 
pears in  consciousness,  the  first  calls  up  a  second,  the 
second  a  third,  the  second  and  third  may  revive  new 
ideas,  and  we  have  what  we  call  a  train  of  imagery,  often 
uninterrupted  by  outside  stimuli.  For  example,  one 
glances  up  from  his  work  and  notes  a  spring  shower 
which  suggests  returning  leaves  on  the  trees,  blossoms, 
flowers,  Easter-day,  church,  a  certain  minister,  mission- 
aries, a  certain  friend  in  South  America.  The  train  of 
ideas  from  the  sight  of  the  spring-shower  to  the  South 


MEMORY  221 

American  friend  flows  on  independently  of  outside  influ- 
ences, —  in  the  head,  as  we  say.  Trains  of  imagery  are 
unknown,  probably,  to  the  child  under  two.^  He  hears 
the  word  "  ball,"  or  "  clock,"  or  "  hat,"  the  idea  of  the  ob- 
ject comes  to  his  mind  and  there  the  process  ends,  unless 
the  child  happens  to  want  the  object  named,  while  in  the 
mature  mind  any  one  of  these  words  is  likely  to  start  a 
train  of  images.  "  Ball "  may  suggest  shape  of  the  earth 
or  a  game  of  ball  and  these  in  turn  may  call  up  any 
one  of  a  number  of  other  ideas :  so  with  the  words 
"  clock"  and  ••  hat."  The  child's  memory  images  do  not 
call  up  others  for  the  reason  that  the  "  others  "  are  not  in 
the  mind  to  be  called  up,  or  because  the  habit  which 
ideas  get  of  going  in  pairs  or  in  series  has  not  been 
formed.  It  was  said  in  a  preceding  paragraph  that  the 
first  instances  of  ideas  calling  up  ideas  occurred  in  the 
first  part  of  R.'s  third  year,  the  instance,  namely,  of  the 
idea  "  grandpa  "  caUing  up  the  ideas  **  playing  ball "  and 
"  sitting  with  the  legs  crossed."  These  instances  give  one 
an  idea  how  trains  of  imagery  start,  and  what  they  are 
like  in  the  beginning. 

(5)  During  the  first  year  and  a  half —  probably  during 
the    first  two  years  —  the  baby  lacks  what  in  popular 

^  I  infer  from  a  remark  in  Mrs.  Moore's  discussion  of  a  point  related  to 
the  one  mentioned  here  that  she  would  place  the  date  of  the  first  trains  of 
imagery  earlier  than  that  given  here.  "Memory  images,"  she  writes, 
"  were  not  associated  with  one  another  independently  of  objective  sugges- 
tion before  the  second  year." — Op.  cii.,  p.  91. 


222  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

speech  is  known  as  the  power  of  "  voluntary  recollec- 
tion." He  makes  no  conscious  efforts  to  recall  past  ex- 
periences, such  as  the  adult  makes  when  trying  to  recall 
a  name  which  for  the  moment  is  forgotten.  In  infancy 
and  early  childhood,  recollections  and  recognitions  of 
former  experiences  are  accidental,  apparently;  that  is, 
they  occur  without  conscious  effort  on  the  child's  part. 

In  considering  this  fact,  the  question  arose.  At  what 
age  do  children  begin  to  make  an  "  effort  to  recall "  past 
experiences  ?  how  early  do  they  try  to  recall,  for  ex- 
ample, where  they  leave  favorite  toys,  or  names  which  are 
well-known,  but  which  for  the  moment  are  forgotten  ?  In 
seeking  for  an  answer  to  this  question,  I  first  consulted 
kindergarten  teachers  and  the  parents  of  children  three 
and  four  years  of  age.  Both  teachers  and  parents  were 
certain  that  children  three  and  a  half  make  what  I  have 
referred  to  above  as  an  effort  to  recall  former  experiences, 
where  toys  were  left,  or  hidden  (in  kindergarten  games), 
to  recall  names,  and  so  on,  and  furnished  an  abundance 
of  instances  to  support  their  belief.  My  attention  then 
was  turned  to  the  child  who  has  been  the  subject  of  most 
of  the  experiments  and  observations  reported  in  these 
Studies.  My  observations  were  begun  when  the  child 
was  in  his  eighteenth  month,  and  continued  until  there 
was  unmistakable  evidence  that  the  child  did  make 
efforts  to  recall  forgotten  things ;  until  "  trying  to  re- 
member" some  forgotten  thing  came  to  be  a  frequent 


MEMORY  223 

occurrence.  The  first  observed  instance  of  "  effort  to 
recall "  appeared  in  the  early  days  of  the  twenty-eighth 
month,  as  follows :  By  referring  to  the  chapter  on  Form, 
(page  I76f.),  it  will  be  seen  that  in  the  first  week  of  the 
twenty- eighth  month  an  effort  was  made  to  teach  the 
child  the  names  of  a  few  geometrical  figures  cut  from 
cardboard  (circles,  squares,  and  triangles  —  four  sizes  of 
each).  The  sizes  were  distinguished  by  the  words, "  big," 
"  baby,"  and  "  buddah,"  being  prefixed  to  his  names  for 
the  figures  which  were  "  sucoo "  (circle),  "  kweuh "  or 
"pal"  (square),  "annie"  or  "  kwiajick"  (triangle).  For 
example,  the  largest  sized  circles  were  called,  "big 
sucoo,"  and  the  smaller,  "baby"  or  "buddah  sucoo" 
and  so  on. 

When  the  child  was  shown  the  figures  and  asked  to 
name  them,  he  had  no  difficulty  in  recaUing  the  first  part 
of  the  combination,  that  is  the  "  baby  "  or  "  big,"  but 
the  name  of  the  figure  frequently  failed  to  appear.  Then 
came  the  phenomenon  which  is  referred  to  above  as  the 
effort  to  recall.  When  shown  the  card  the  child  would 
say,  "  biguh  "  then  a  pause,  then  "  biguh,"  then  another 
pause  —  the  expression  of  the  face  being  either  like  that 
of  an  adult  trying  to  recall  a  name,  or  a  street  number  — 
only  not  so  serious ;  or  at  other  times,  there  were 
grimaces,  stretching  the  corners  of  the  mouth  far  apart, 
showing  the  teeth,  or  wide  open  in  a  vertical  plane,  shut- 
ting the  eyes  tightly  and  so  forth.     (See  Fig.  2,  Plate  II.) 


224  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

I  did  not  keep  a  careful  record  of  the  matter,  but  I  was 
of  the  opinion  that  the  desired  word  rarely,  if  ever,  came 
in  response  to  the  ♦'  grimace  "  search  for  it,  and  that  as  a 
rule  it  did  appear  when  he  stood  perfectly  still,  not  a 
muscle  moving,  with  almost  suspended  breathing,  and 
with  the  mouth  slightly  open.  In  the  latter  case,  it 
seemed  as  if  the  child  was  waiting  for  the  name  to  come, 
he  knew  that  he  knew  it,  and  tried  to  recall  it.  From 
another  point  of  view  it  was  as  if  my  question,  "  What 
is  this  ?  "  as  I  held  the  card  before  him,  coupled  with 
the  sight  of  the  card  made  him  conscious  of  a  gap  in  the 
mental  series  which  made  him  uneasy  until  it  was  filled. 
The  visual  image  of  the  figure  (circle,  square  or  triangle) 
was  one  link  of  a  broken  chain,  and  the  fact  of  the  in- 
completeness of  the  chain  caused  a  feehng  of  unrest  or 
strain,  held  him  stock-still  until  the  circuit  was  com- 
pleted, until  all  the  links  of  the  series  were  present,  or  — 
to  use  another  figure  —  the  image  of  the  figure  (square, 
triangle  or  circle)  blocked  the  flow  of  consciousness  as 
when  one  waits  for  the  thunder-clap  after  seeing  the 
lightning  flash.  If,  in  other  cases,  the  lost  link  was  not 
found  at  once,  the  tension  gave  way  to  grimaces,  as  al- 
ready described.  When  the  gap  was  filled,  when  the  lost 
link  was  found  great  pleasure  ensued  as  was  shown  by  the 
explosive  and  exultant  manner  of  uttering  the  name  for 
which  he  had  been  seeking,  and  by  the  happy  expression 
—  often  dancing  with  delight,  chuckling  and  repeating 


IMAGINATION  227 

Active,  creative  imagination  as  thus  described  is  a 
rare  phenomenon  in  infancy  —  if  indeed  it  appears  at  all 
during  the  first  two  years.  Many  writers  speak  of  the 
baby's  "  imagination,"  but  the  context  usually  shows  that 
they  mean  passive,  reproductive  imagination,  or  the  re- 
vival of  images  through  association  —  in  short,  memory 
images.  For  example,  Sully  writes  that  the  child  C.  in 
his  tenth  week  "  passed  from  the  sight  of  his  bottle  to  a 
fore-grasping  or  imagination  of  the  blisses  of  prehension 
and  deglutition.  The  child  not  only  perceived  what  was 
actually  present  to  the  senses,  but  he  pictured  or  repre- 
sented what  was  absent,"  —  an  instance  of  revival 
through  association.  The  same  child  in  his  eighteenth 
week  turned  his  head  so  as  to  see  some  pictures  at  which 
he  had  been  gazing,  but  had  lost  by  having  his  position 
changed.  Here  we  have  an  image  to  be  sure,  but  Sully 
is  careful  to  call  it  "  a  primary  memory  image  "  —  a  kind 
of  memory  after-image.  When  Compayre  speaks  of  the 
recognition  (in  the  twelfth  month)  of  objects  in  a  draw- 
ing or  picture  as  the  beginning  of  imagination,  he  no 
doubt  means  reproductive  imagination  or  memory. 
Again  the  same  author  has  reference  to  a  memory  image 
when  he  asks  regarding  the  impatience  the  child  shows 
to  get  out  of  doors  when  the  nurse  begins  to  make  prep- 
aration for  a  walk  :  "  is  it  not  probable  that  he  is  excited 
by  the  vague  image  of  former  airings  and  the  pleasure  he 
has  found  in  them  ?  "     So  also  Mrs.  Moore  regards  the 


228  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

first  acts  of  imagination  which  she  mentions  as  representa- 
tions, as  memory  images.  "  In  its  (imagination's)  most 
primitive  form,"  she  writes,  "...  chains  of  experi- 
ence were  reproduced  in  the  order  in  which  they  had 
been  met."  To  the  same  class  of  imaginations  belong 
the  images  which  R.  formed  of  anticipated  pleasure  at 
the  sight  of  his  nursing  bottle  (fourth  month).  The  sight 
of  the  bottle  was  associated  with  and  revived,  dimly  per- 
haps, an  image  of  the  meal.  Associations  of  this  sort  — 
between  percepts,  objective  suggestions  and  images  which 
they  revived  were  formed  with  great  rapidity  from  the 
beginning  of  R.'s  fourth  month.  They  are  reported  in 
the  chapters  on  Association,  Memory,  and  Language. 

Beginnings  of  imagination.  —  We  shall  now  inquire, 
what  is  the  nature  of  the  earliest  imaginative  processes, 
and  when,  do  they  first  appear?  In  a  former  para- 
graph it  was  said  that  'the  principal  difference  between 
memory  and  imagination  is  that  the  former  is  a  repre- 
sentation of  a  real  thing  or  event,  while  in  imagination 
the  contents  and  the  relations  of  the  material  given  in 
perception  and  memory  are  changed.  If  one  holds 
strictly  to  this  definition,  while  watching  a  baby's  activ- 
ities for  evidence  of  the  presence  of  imagination,  one 
finds  it  impossible,  at  first,  to  disentangle  memory  proc- 
esses from  imaginative  ones.  One  cannot  at  first  draw 
sharp  lines  and  say  —  here  and  now  we  have  memory 
—  there  and  then,  imagination.      Nor  can  one  say,  as 


IMAGINATION  229 

some  writers  believe,  that  memory  must  precede  im- 
agination, that  the  child  must  have  a  store  of  memory 
images  before  the  imagination  can  "  take  flight,"  if  by 
"  store  of  memory-images  "  is  meant  a  stock  of  defi- 
nite, literal  copies  which  might  be  inventoried  as  raw 
material  which  imagination  may  later  transform.^  The 
truth  is  rather  that  memory  and  imagination  are  in- 
extricably bound  together  in  all  early  imaging.  Even 
in  the  simplest  forms  of  perceiving,  recognizing  and  the 
Hke  one  would  hesitate  to  say  how  much  is  memory  and 
how  much  imagination.  With  this  disavowal  of  making 
any  attempt  to  draw  sharp  lines  between  imagination 
and  other  simple  cognitive  processes  we  may  now 
consider  some  of  the  infant's  activities  in  which  imagina- 
tion is  present. 

The  presence  of  imagination  may  be  noted  in  five 
classes  of  infant  activity,  as  follows:  (i)  in  expressions 
of  desire,  (2)  in  devices  in  which  the  child  shows  initia- 
tive, in  original  plans  to  bring  about  given  ends,  (3)  in 
imitative  play,  (4)  in  free,  uncontrolled  play,  (5)  assimi- 
lative imagination,  in  those  cases  in  which  percepts  are 
overlaid  and  transformed  by  more  vivid  images  which 
the  percept  calls  up. 

J  Such  a  conception   brings  home  to  one  how  largely  our  thinking  is 
dominated   by  the  "  faculty  "  psychology,  and  also  how  poorly  adapted 
and  clumsy  is  the   terminology  of    an  adult,  functional  psychology,  the 
psychology  of  the  developed  mind,  for  purposes  of  describing  primitive,     . 
developmental  processes.  .0^"^ 


230  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

The  manner  in  which  the  imaginative  process  appears 
in  these  classes  of  activity  will  be  illustrated  briefly. 
First,  expressions  of  desire  involving  imagination.  The 
first  desires  probably  are  for  the  repetition  of  pleasura- 
ble experiences  which  the  child  recalls.  But  there  comes 
a  time  —  early  in  the  second  year,  as  a  rule  —  when  he 
begins  to  picture  new  relations  which  he  wishes  real- 
ized. For  example,  in  his  eighteenth  month  R.  would 
pat  on  the  floor  with  his  hand  and  cry  "  dee  "  when  he 
wanted  an  article  placed  on  the  floor  in  a  certain  place 
where  he  could  get  hold  of  it.  The  same  method  was 
employed  to  express  his  desire  to  have  a  person  sit  on 
the  floor  and  play  with  him;  i.  e.,  he  would  pull  at  one's 
clothing,  then  pat  on  the  floor  to  indicate  the  place 
where  he  wanted  one  to  sit.  In  these  simple  expres- 
sions there  is  something  more  than  memory :  e.  g.,  the 
child  imagined  the  position  of  the  toys  changed  from 
the  shelf  out  of  his  reach  to  a  particular  place  on  the 
floor  (or  on  a  chair)  where  he  could  reach  them.  Again, 
one  evening  in  the  twentieth  month  the  child  gazed  at 
the  moon  for  a  moment  then  began  to  reach  for  it 
crying  "  moom  " ;  then  he  took  my  hand  and  Hfted  it, 
toward  the  luminary  meaning  that  he  wanted  me  to  get 
it  for  him.  In  this  instance,  the  transformation  was 
slight,  to  be  sure,  for  he  had  frequently  had  things  which 
he  wanted,  but  could  not  reach,  handed  to  him.  Still, 
it  was  not  merely  a   reproductive   process  :  it  was   the 


IMAGINATION  23 1 

first  time  that  he  had  tried  to  have  one  get  that  partic- 
ular object  —  the  moon  —  for  him.  One  also  sees  the 
work  of  imagination  in  the  homely  instance  of  R.'s 
trying  to  get  a  kitten  to  climb  upon  a  particular  chair 
which  he  expressed  by  looking  into  the  animal's  face 
and  saying,  "  chai,  chai,"  at  the  same  time  patting  the 
chair  upon  which  he  wished  "the  kitten  to  climb 
(twenty-fourth  month).  And  again,  same  month,  a 
simple  form  of  imagination  was  present  when  the  child 
cried  "  fouh,  fouh,"  meaning  that  he  wanted  a  top  spun 
on  the  floor  rather  than  on  a  table.  In  the  thirty-first 
month,  the  child  frequently  imagined  huge  Os  which 
he  wanted  me  to  draw  for  him,  expressing  his  desire 
for  the  big  O  by  stretching  his  arms  far  apart  and 
above  his  head.  When  R.  was  told  (thirty-fifth  month) 
that  his  grandfather  was  coming  to  see  him  and  would 
bring  a  "  choo-choo,"  the  child  at  once  extended  the 
list  of  things  which  he  wanted  his  grandsire  to  bring, 
saying,  "  choo-choo,  baw  (ball),  sed  (sled),  hoss  (horse) 
—  Gapa  bing  all  ese  sins,"  meaning  that  he  wanted 
grandpa  to  bring  all  the  things  named.  Here  we 
say  the  child  imagined  a  list  of  things  which  he 
wanted;  also  that  his  grandfather  would  bring  them. 
Imagination  in  practical  inventions.  —  The  presence 
of  imagination  is  seen  in  the  child's  practical  devices  to 
gain  given  ends.  Early  in  his  fifteenth  month,  I  saw 
the   child   J.  push  a  child's  chair  to  a  table,  then  climb 


232  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

up  in  the  chair  in  order  to  reach  spoons,  cups  and  other 
table-ware.  This  action,  while  probably  an  imitative 
one,  was  not  wholly  an  affair  of  memory.  Imagination 
was  a  factor.  The  child  doubtless  had  a  lively  imagina- 
tion of  the  pleasure  of  being  engaged  with  the  interest- 
ing table-ware  when  he  started  to  the  table  with  the 
chair.  A  little  later,  one  may  observe  entirely  original 
devices  in  which  the  child  shows  initiative,  in  which  he 
acts  out  a  new  image.  For  example,  during  a  rain- 
storm, in  R.'s  nineteenth  month,  he  vi^ent  about  the 
room  closing  the  inside  window  shutters  to  keep  out 
the  rain,  as  he  supposed.  In  the  same  child's  twenty- 
first  month,  I  observed  a  device  which,  for  a  baby, 
showed  considerable  ingenuity.  The  child  was  playing 
in  the  street,  drawing  his  wagon  after  him.  When 
some  member  of  the  family,  fearing  that  the  child 
would  get  hurt,  called  to  him  to  come  off  the  street,  he 
climbed  to  the  sidewalk  and  tried  to  pull  his  wagon 
after  him,  but  could  not.  Finding  that  he  could  not  get 
the  wagon  over  the  curbstone  he  climbed  down  to  the 
street,  lifted  the  wagon  and  set  it  on  the  side- walk, 
then  climbed  up  himself,  picked  up  the  wagon-tongue 
and  toddled  toward  the  house  as  he  had  been  requested. 
One  evening  in  R.'s  twenty-fifth  month,  in  his  efforts 
to  get  a  kitten  to  eat  a  piece  of -toast  which  was  lying 
on  the  table,  he  employed  the  unusual  device  of  lifting  the 
kitten  to  the  table,  and  theiTrubbed  its  nose  over  the 


IMAGINATION  233 

toast  instead  of  taking  the  bread  and  giving  it  to  his 
pet  as  an  older  child  would  have  done;  .  .  .  Other 
simple  devices  which  were  noticed  frequently  were  pull- 
ing chairs  and  other  light  articles  of  furniture  away  in 
order  to  get  toys  which  had  rolled,  or  fallen  behind 
them  out  of  his  reach. 

In  his  thirtieth  month,  R.  conceived  the  idea  of 
driving  miniature  bargains  with  his  infant  brother  when 
the  latter  had  articles  which  R.  wanted.  The  method 
was  to  get  a  ball,  tin  box  or  other  toy  and  offer  it  to  the 
baby  with  sugared  words  in  order  to  get  the  baby  to 
let  go  —  say  a  wagon  —  which  R.  wanted.  This  device 
which,  as  was  stated,  was  first  noticed  in  the  thirtieth 
month  was  seen  frequently  in  the  remaining  months  of 
the  third  year,  and,  indeed,  well  into  the  fourth  when 
owing  to  parental  interference  the  imposition  was  dis- 
continued. Another  device  which  R.  used  to  keep  his 
baby  brother  from  getting  his  favorite  toys  was  to  push 
a  chair  in  front  of  the  baby  when  he  was  crawling  toward 
one  of  R.'s  toys,  saying, "  no  buddah  git  it,"  i.  e,,  I  do  not 
want  brother  to  get  the  toy.^ 

*  These  apparently  flagrant  cases  of  selfishness  were  not  really  such,  I 
think.  Or  if  they  were  selfish  they  were  certainly  wholly  unintentional. 
In  the  first  instance,  his  conduct  —  trying  to  get  the  toys  from  the  baby  — 
was  the  result  of  suggestion.  The  baby  having  the  toy  suggested  to  R. 
his  having  it  and  doing  with  it  what  the  baby  was  doing :  it  was  a  form 
of  imitation.  In  the  second  instance,  the  baby  having  toys  belonging  to 
R.  was  to  R.  a  disturbance  of  the  customary  order  of  things,  and  that  was 
all :  and  we  have  had  numerous  illustrations  of  the  general  principle  that 


234  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

Imitative  play.  —  How  much  of  the 'baby's  imitative 
play  is  an  effort  literally  to  copy  his  models,  how  much  is 
free  realization  of  an  idea  which  has  been  suggested  by 
the  models  ?  One  cannot  say  definitely ;  but  one  is  safe 
in  saying  that  few*children  at  play  are  such  slavish  copiers 
as  not  to  transform,  in  -some  measure,  the  things  they 
imitate.  We  shall  see  hereafter  (Ch.  XII),  that  R.'s  play 
began  to  be  noticeably  imitative  in  the  seventeenth 
month,  e.  g.,  dusting  furniture  and  "  reading."  But  the 
first  clear  instance  of  the  transforming  power  of  the 
child's  imagination  in  play  is  found  in  the  record  for  the 
twenty-fifth  month,  as  follows  :  On  the  second  day  of 
the  month,  I  gave  him  a  rag-doll  made  by  tying  a  knot 
in  one  corner  of  a  handkerchief  which  he  laid  in  a  baby- 
crib,  and  then  began  to  beg  for  a  bottle  so  he  could  feed 
the  doll.  This  was  a  clear  instance  of  the  working  of 
the  imitative  play  impulse,  the  impulse  to  act  out,  to 
realize  an  idea  in  outward  form. 

The  idea  of  the  doll  being  a  baby  suggested  the  minis- 
trations, which  R.  had  often  observed,  of  others  caring  for 
his  baby  brother.  But  the  doll-play  is  so  much  a  matter 
of  lively  fancy,  the  child  moves  in  a  world  which  is  so 
distinctly  fanciful  in  character  that  he  fails  to  note  what 


a  disturbance  of  the  habitual  arrangements  always  causes  a  shock  to  the 
child.  This  interpretation  of  R.'s  conduct  in  these  cases  seemed  not  too 
charitable  when  I  noticed  that  he  was  entirely  willing  for  the  baby  to 
have  the  toys  which  belonged  to  him  beyond  all  question. 


IMAGINATION  235 

the  observer  regards  as  the  incongruities  of  the  scene. 
He  doesn't  ask  whether  the  doll  does  or  does  not  eat  the 
toast  or  take  the  medicine  —  that's  no  concern  of  his  :  he 
fancies  that  it  does  and  that  is  the  essence  of  the  affair. 

The  doll  interest  continued  for  a  Httle  more  than  two 
weeks  during  R.'s  twenty-fifth  month.  During  this  period, 
the  child  reproduced  in  doll-play  most  of  the  ministrations 
for  his  infant  brother :  feeding  the  doll  toast,  spreading 
blankets  over  it  when  it  took  its  noon-day  nap,  giving  it 
imaginary  medicine  fronr-a  real  medicine  bottle,  tying 
scarfs  around  its  neck  when  getting  it  ready  for  an  out- 
ing, and  so  on.  The  interest  in  the  doll-play  in  that 
particular  way  disappeared  as  suddenly  as  it  appeared, 
and  did  not  return  for  a  period  of  six  weeks,  when  it  ran 
another  course  similar  to  the  one  already  described.^ 

Constructive  imagination  in  free,  uncontrolled  play.  — 
Every  observer  of  children  knows  how  in  their  play  they 
represent  all  sorts  of  objects  and  scenes  by  means  of 
simple  articles  like  blocks,  pebbles,  buttons,  sticks,  and 
how  readily  the  child  mind  transforms  such  articles  into 
things  of  life  and  action  —  horses,  houses,  soldiers,  locomo- 
tives—  and  how  they  are  marshaled  to  represent  scenes 
which  have  greatly  impressed  the  child  and  which  he 
wishes  to  repeat.     For  instance,  the  child  goes  to  church 

*  Professor  Baldwin,  Mental  Development,  p.  362.,  gives  a  charming 
picture  of  an  imitative  play  in  which  his  children  took  the  parts  of 
"  mamma  "  and  "  baby." 


236  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

and  upon  his  return  home,  plays  "  church,"  using  chairs, 
tables,  blocks  —  whatever  comes  to  hand  to  represent 
the  features  of  the  church  which  impressed  themselves 
upon  him.  In  hke  manner,  school,  keeping  store,  a  circus 
parade,  are  reproduced  in  their  most  striking  features  by- 
means  of  such  articles  as  the  child  can  command.  The 
blocks  or  chairs  or  shells  form  the  one  bit  of  necessary 
substantiality  from  which  the  child  fancy  takes  its  flight, 
and  around  which  it  builds  its  imaginary  scenes.  Pro- 
fessor Sully  quotes  from  "  a  German  writer  "  a  true  to  life 
picture : 

*'  There  sits  a  little  charming  master  of  three  years  before  his 
small  table  busied  for  a  whole  hour  in  a  fanciful  game  with 
shells.  He  has  three  so-called  snake-heads  in  his  domain ;  a 
large  one  and  two  smaller  ones :  this  means  two  calves  and  a 
cow.  In  a  tiny  tin  dish  the  little  farmer  has  put  all  kinds  of 
petals,  that  is  the  fodder  for  his  numerous  and  fine  cattle. 
.  .  .  When  the  play  has  lasted  a  time  the  fodder-dish 
transforms  itself  into  a  heavy  wagon  with  hay :  the  little  shells 
now  become  little  horses,  and  are  put  to  the  shafts  to  pull  the 
terrible  load."  ^ 

Children  differ  greatly  with  respect  to  the  things  which 
appeal  to  their  play  impulse,  the  difference  depending 
somewhat  upon  the  make-up  of  the  child's  surroundings 
and  the  suggestions  therefrom,  and  often  upon  sugges- 
tions which    come  from  sources  unknown.     One  child 

»  Studies  of  Childhood^  p.  42. 


IMAGINATION  237 

looks  upon  the  postman  and  his  occupation  as  fit  for 
admiration  and  imitation;  another,  the  street-car  con- 
ductor and  the  punching  of  tickets ;  another,  cows  and 
horses ;  and  another  finds  the  railway  locomotive  the 
most  wonderful  thing  in  all  the  world.  Sometimes  in 
their  play  they  represent  the  object ;  at  other  times,  what 
the  object  or  person  does  is  most  impressive  and  that  is 
reproduced. 

Most  of  R.'s  play  of  this  sort  was  limited  to  the  nar- 
row field  of  making  "  choo-choos,"  and  houses,  and  in 
none  of  his  imaginative  play  did  he  show  an  unusual  live- 
liness of  imagination  or  ingenuity  in  realizing  his  ideas. 
Early  in  the  thirtieth  month,  the  child  became  engrossed 
with  making  "  choo-choos "  by  arranging  blocks  in  a 
straight  row.  Later  he  used  bricks,  shells,  broken  pieces 
of  tile  in  the  same  way.  In  the  twenty-ninth  month  the 
child  was  observed  on  two  or  three  occasions  rolling 
a  sheet  of  paper  which  he  then  held  to  his  ear  and  played 
he  was  telephoning  to  the  stable  to  have  the  family  horse 
sent  to  the  house.  This  was  in  imitation  of  telephoning, 
which  he  saw  almost  daily  during  the  month  named.  On 
a  few  occasions,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  third  year,  the 
child  showed  some  interest  in  building  houses  of  blocks. 
But  his  plans  never  rose  beyond  a  one-room  house  having 
one  door.  Sometimes,  after  completing  the  house,  im- 
aginary birds  and  "  wow-wows  "  in  the  form  of  buttons, 
nails  or  pencils  were  given  shelter  in  the  house  "  to  keep 


238  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

them  from  getting  cold."  But  house-making  and  peo- 
pling had  not  at  the  end  of  the  third  year  become  half  so 
interesting  as  choo-choo  making.  (See  Fig.  5,  Plate  IV.) 
Assimilative  imagination. — We  have  instances  of  as- 
similative imagination  when  two  images  —  perceptual  and 
memory  —  containing  common  factors  fuse  and  form  a 
new  image,  when  what  is  present  to  the  senses  is  trans- 
formed by  fancy.  For  example,  R.  looking  at  columns 
of  coal-smoke  rolling  out  of  the  chimney  of  a  near-by 
house,  cried  "  choo-choo "  (twenty-sixth  month).  The 
column  of  smoke  reminded  him  of  the  smoke  of  a 
locomotive  ;  what  was  present  to  the  sense  —  the  column 
of  smoke  —  was  transformed  in  some  measure,  perhaps, 
by  his  image  of  a  locomotive.  Another  instance  was 
when  he  took  hold  of  the  straps  of  a  trunk  and  shook 
them  and  clucked  as  if  driving  a  horse  (twentieth  month). 
In  this  instance  the  straps  rang  up  the  image  of  the  lines 
which  he  was  allowed  to  hold  when  driving  with  other 
members  of  the  family,  and  also  the  whole  interesting  ex- 
perience of  driving  which  he  repeated  with  great  energy. 


c^^^^^ 


Plate  IV.— 1.  Showing  R.'s  manner  of  throwing— second 
YEAR.  2.  Crying  when  not  allowed  to  have  a  favorite  toy. 
3.  Admiring  a  ball,  the  favorite  plaything  of  the  second 

YEAR.      4.    A   favorite  PLAY  OF  THE  LATTER  PART  OF  THE  SECOND 

YEAR.     5    Making  a  train  by  placing  pieces  of  bricks  in  a 

ROW — THIRD  YEAR. 


CHAPTER  XII 

PLAY 

The  word  "  play  "  is  used  here  to  include  all  forms  of 
activity  performed  solely  for  the  pleasure  the  activity 
yields.  The  earliest  play  of  the  infant  seems  to  arise  out'~f" 
of  a  hunger  for  sensations  of  touch,  sight,  hearing,  and  / 
perhaps  muscular  sensations,  and  consists  of  handling, 
pulling,  "  feeling,"  turning  over  and  over,  shaking  and 
gazing  at  whatever  the  child  can  lay  hands  on.  To  the 
onlooker,  all  this  gazing,  puUing,  feeling,  shaking,  seems 
like  a  feast  for  the  baby*s  eyes,  hands,  and  ears.  This 
may  be  called  the  stage  of  sensuous  play^  the  activity 
having  its  full  justification  in  the  sensuous  delight  the 
baby  gets  out  of  it.  For  example,  it  was  noticed  early  in 
R.'s  third  month  that  he  enjoyed  gazing  and  fumbling  at 
colored  yarn  balls  suspended  so  that  they  touched  his 
hands  whenever  he  flourished  them  freely.  A  few  days 
later,  he  was  absorbed  in  pulling  and  looking  at  his  fin- 
gers. In  the  latter  part  of  the  same  month,  he  began  to 
punch  and  fumble  at  —  apparently  tried  to  get  hold  of — 
attractive  articles  which  were  held  over  him  and  allowed 
to  touch  his  fingers,  as  when  one  dangled  a  watch  by  the 
chain  so  that  it  occasionally  touched  his  fingers.     The 

239 


240  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

touch  seemed  to  awaken  the  desire  to  get  hold  of  and 
"  feel." 


RECORD   OF   THE   PRINCIPAL   FORMS   OF   R.  S   PLAY  ACTIVITY 
DURING    HIS   FIRST   THREE   YEARS 

Fourth  month.  —  During  this  month,  in  connection 
with  the  growing  impulse  to  reach  and  grasp,  came  in- 
creased pleasure  in  handling  toys,  blocks,  spools,  tassels, 
—  whatever  came  within  reach.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
month,  the  child  showed  displeasure  by  fretting  when  a 
watch  and  yarn  tassels  which  he  had  been  examining 
were  taken  away.  In  the  last  week  of  the  month  he  took 
pleasure  in  tearing  and  crumbling  a  newspaper,  and  was 
distinctly  displeased  when  one  with  which  he  was  occu- 
pied was  taken  away.  Probably  the  ear  was  beginning 
to  come  in  for  its  share  of  the  pleasure  in  the  engaging 
exercise  of  paper- tearing. 

Fifth  month.  —  During  the  fifth  month  the  child  con- 
tinued to  enjoy  handhng,  shaking,  examining,  turning 
over  and  over  toys  and  playthings,  and  his  resentment 
when  they  were  taken  from  him  grew  more  pronounced. 

Sixth  month.  —  The  sixth  month  showed  no  noticeable 
change  in  the  child's  play  activities,  except  that,  like  all 
his  bodily  movements,  they  became  more  vigorous  and 
more  varied.  Rolling,  kicking,  tumbling  about  on  the 
floor,  pulling  at  whatever  he  could  reach,  took  up  a  good 
share  of  his  time. 


PLAY  241 

Eighth  month.  —  Activities  like  shaking  and  tossing 
paper,  shaking  a  small  breakfast  bell  as  if  to  make  a  noise, 
were  first  noticed  in  this  month.  These  activities  showed 
a  marked  advance  over  the  simple  "  feeling,"  handling, 
looking  at  articles  of  the  earlier  months.  Then,  the  in- 
terest centred  in  the  thing,  its  "  look,"  and  "  feel " ;  now, 
in  what  he  can  do  with  it,  the  sensations  it  will  yield  un- 
der manipulation. 

Ninth  month.  —  The  craving  for  things  to  handle  and 
examine  was  unabated  ;  but  the  child  was  becoming  more 
interested  in  what  he  could  do  with  things.  For  exam- 
ple, shaking  and  threshing  newspapers  and  strings  of 
bells  to  make  a  noise,  throwing  toys  out  of  his  crib  when 
tired  of  them,  or  possibly  to  hear  them  fall. 

Tenth  month.  —  In  this  month,  the  play  activities 
began  to  be  influenced  by  the  dawning  imitative  im- 
pulse ;  that  is,  some  of  his  play  consisted  of  trying  to  do 
what  he  saw  others  doing.  Handling,  throwing,  shaking 
whatever  he  could  lay  hands  on  continued,  as  did  throw- 
ing playthings  aside  when  tired  of  them. 

Eleventh  month.  —  The  only  distinctly  new  forms  of 
play  noted  in  this  month  were  —  (a)  squeezing  a  rubber 
doll  with  a  whistle  attachment,  perhaps,  to  make  it  whistle 
or  squeak ;  {B)  playing  by  the  hour  with  a  cast-off  black 
Derby  hat,  putting  it  on  his  head,  taking  it  off,  throwing 
it  on  the  floor,  crushing  in  the  crown,  etc. 

Twelfth  month.  —  Examining,  pulling  at,  "  talking  "  in 


242  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

a  lively  manner  to  toys,  throwing  things  on  the  floor, 
holding  a  watch  to  his  ear  to  hear  the  tick,  pulling  him- 
self up  to  chairs,  walking  about  the  room  by  holding 
to  furniture  were  the  principal  play  occupations  of  the 
twelfth  month. 

Thirteenth  month.  —  In  the  first  month  of  his  second 
year,  the  child  began  to  take  pleasure  in  throwing  and 
rolling  a  rubber  ball  about  the  room.  It  was  evidence 
of  dehght  in  moving  things,  and  very  likely  too  he  got 
pleasure  out  of  the  feeHng  of  his  own  power  to  throw 
and  roll  the  ball.  The  ball  soon  came  to  rank  as  his 
favorite  plaything,  a  position  which  it  held,  with  few 
interruptions,  until  the  middle  of  the  third  year.  (See 
Figs.  I,  2,  3,  Plate  IV,  illustrating  R.'s  interest  in  balls 
during  nineteenth  and  twentieth  months.) 

Fourteenth  month.  —  In  this  month  the  incipient  con- 
structive impulse,  the  desire  to  make  things,  to  change 
their  relative  positions  began  to  influence  the  character 
of  R.'s  play.  For  example,  piling  blocks  and  standing 
thread  spools  on  top  of  one  another  began  to  interest 
him.  In  this  month,  also,  the  desire  for  companionship, 
or  help,  in  his  play  was  first  noticed.  Before  this  time,  he 
had  been  content  to  pursue  his  various  plays  alone.  He 
did  not  feel  the  need  of,  did  not  ask  for  companions, 
and  played  entirely  indifferent  to  what  others  were  doing. 
He  wished  to  do  all  the  handling,  feeling,  looking  him- 
self, and  was  likely  to  become  impatient  if  he  was  inter- 


PLAY  243 

fered  with  in  any  way.  "  Now,"  one  note  reads, "  he  wishes 
others  to  join  him  and  help  him  carry  out  his  plans. 
But  even  now  the  main  interest  is  the  egoistic^  one  of 
watching  another  person  do  something  which  he  likes  to 
see  done,  but  cannot  do  himself.  He  enjoys  watching 
performances  which  are  too  hard  for  him.  For  example, 
the  child  very  often  begged  us  to  play  ball  with  him, 
i.  e.,  to  roll  and  toss  the  ball,  his  part  being  to  catch  it 
when  it  was  rolled  to  him,  and  to  go  after  it  when  it  got 
away  from  us." 

Fifteenth  month.  —  Balls  were  easily  the  favorite  play- 
things of  this  month.  The  child  would  play  with  them, 
throwing  and  rolling  them,  crawHng  after  them  by  the 
hour.  Piling  up  cards,  spools,  blocks,  rocking  toys  in  a 
chair  were  other  play  activities.  .  .  .  The  child's  first 
opportunity  to  be  or  play  with  another  child  near  his 
own  age  came  in  the  fifteenth  month.  At  first  his  man- 
ner toward  his  baby  visitor  was  decidedly  friendly  and 
also  decidedly  awkward.  First  putting  his  hand  on  the 
child's  hand,  then  pulling  at  his  dress,  "  feeling  "  his  arm, 
and  acting  toward  his  playmate  much  as  he  would  have 
toward  a  big  doll.  This  manner  of  playing  with  other 
Httle  children  —  taking  hold  of  them,  pulling  at  their 
hands  and  arms  —  friendly  as  it  certainly  was,  seemed 
somewhat  rude,  and  timid  children  shrank  from  it.  Not 
until  the  third  year  did  R.'s  manner  toward  children 
become  milder  and  more  companionable. 


244  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

Sixteenth  month.  —  The  child's  interest  in  men's  hats 
overshadowed  every  other  interest  in  this  month ;  indeed, 
became  almost  a  mania.  He  wanted  every  hat  he  saw, 
no  matter  where  or  to  whom  it  belonged.  When  given 
a  hat  he  would  busy  himself  by  the  hour  crushing  in  the 
crown  and  straightening  it  out  by  putting  the  hat  on 
his  head  and  puUing  down.  His  other  plays  and  in- 
terests were  not  different  from  those  of  the  preceding 
month. 

Seventeenth  month.  —  Play  in  this  month  grew  more 
imitative  in  character.  Washing  and  dusting  the  floor, 
dusting  furniture,  "  reading "  are  examples.  Running 
about  the  lawn,  ball  in  hand,  begging  some  one  to  play 
with  him,  looking  at  pictures,  pulling  flowers  and  smell- 
ing them,  are  typical  of  other  play  activities  observed 
during  this  month. 

Eighteenth  month.  —  Imitative  play  was  prominent ; 
e.g.,  scrubbing  chairs  with  a  brush,  sweeping  the  stone 
walks  and  the  floor,  pulling  grass  and  scattering  it  about 
as  he  saw  others  doing.  The  child  frequently  begged 
others  to  join  him  in  his  play,  and  was  delighted  when 
he  could  get  some  member  of  the  family  to  join  him, 
particularly  in  rolling  a  ball  and  in  piling  blocks* 

Nineteenth  month.  — Throwing  and  running  after  balls, 
marking  on  paper  with  pencil,  trying  to  get  a  key  in  a 
key-hole,  pulling  grass  and  scattering  it  about  the  lawn, 
climbing  up  the  side  of  a  grape-arbor  to  get  green  grapes 


PLAY  245 

(baws)  were  representative  play  activities  of  the  nine- 
teenth month. 

Twentieth  month.  —  Throwing  balls,  blocks,  apples; 
piHng  blocks  on  top  of  one  another;  turning  through 
magazines  and  picture-books ;  piling  balls  and  apples  in 
a  little  wagon  and  running  about  with  it ;  digging  in  a 
sand-pile  ;  making  piles  of  sticks,  were  the  principal  plays 
of  the  twentieth  month.  The  child's  efforts  to  play  with 
a  little  girl  M.  —  who  was  a  few  months  older  than  he 
but  no  larger  —  showed  the  same  unmistakable  signs  of 
friendliness  and  the  same  awkwardness  mentioned  in  the 
notes  on  the  play  of  the  fifteenth  month.  He  was  at  a 
loss  to  know  what  to  do  when  told  to  go  play  with  M. 
He  took  hold  of  her  hands  and  arms,  looked  at  her,  tried 
to  speak  her  name  all  to  no  purpose.  She  would  have 
none  of  it,  and  flatly  refused  to  stay  with  him,  so  rude 
was  his  manner.  It  is  probable,  one  note  suggests,  that 
the  average  child,  if  an  "  only  child,"  has  to  learn  to  be 
companionable. 

Twenty-first  and  twenty-second  months.  —  Balls  were 
his  favorite  playthings  in  these  months,  with  a  little 
wagon  as  a  close  second.     (See  Fig.  4,  Plate  IV.) 

Twenty-third  month.  —  The  child  did  not  seem  so  fond 
of  throwing  and  running  after  balls  as  in  previous  months. 
Interest  seemed — so  the  notes  indicate  —  to  centre  in 
getting  in  his  hands  every  new  thing  he  saw.  This  is 
accounted  for,  in  part,  by  the  fact  that  he  was  in  a  new 


246  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

environment,  the  things  around  him  were  new,  and  he 
wished  to  examine  them. 

Twenty -fourth  month.  —  The  ball  had  strong  rivals  in  a 
toy  drum,  a  wagon,  a  rag-doll,  picture  books,  probably 
because  of  the  novelty  of  these  last  named  articles. 

Twenty-fifth  month.  —  The  following  ten  minutes  ob- 
servation of  the  child's  activities  gives  one  a  good  idea  of 
his  play  in  this  month.  First  he  brought  a  ball  asking  that 
it  be  tossed  "  up  high  " ;  then  he  wanted  the  ball  bounced 
on  the  "  fouh "  (floor) ;  then  a  little  wagon  is  dragged 
around  the  room  and  swung  to  and  fro ;  then  two  balls 
are  put  on  the  wooden  base  supporting  a  toy  horse  and 
are  wheeled  about  the  room ;  then  he  gets  a  broom  and 
sweeps ;  then  picks  up  and  throws  a  ball ;  next  begs  for 
a  powder  box  ;  "  feels  "  the  baby's  head  ;  begs  for  pencil, 
saying  "  O  bob,"  meaning  that  he  wants  to  mark  on 
paper.  ...  On  a  certain  day  near  the  middle  of  the 
month,  the  child  was  busy  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
afternoon  with  soap  and  rag  washing  the  floor,  chairs, 
table  and  other  furniture. 

Twenty- sixth  month.  —  The  favorite  playthings,  in  the 
order  of  preference,  were :  balls  and  empty  paper  boxes 
which  were  thrown  and  carried  about  the  house ;  pictures 
which  were  looked  at,  carried  about  the  room,  and 
"  talked  "  to. 

Twenty-eighth  month.  —  The  child  was  very  fond  of  a 
toy  horse  mounted  on  a  wooden  frame  and  wheels  so  it 


PLAY  247 

could  be  drawn.  He  also  spent  a  good  deal  of  time 
during  this  month  in  turning  through  books  and  maga- 
zines, looking  at  the  pictures,  talking  to  and  about  them. 

Twenty-ninth  month.  —  Was  fond  of  balls,  but  played 
with  almost  everything.  **  Picks  up,  throws,  carries 
almost  everything  he  can  handle,"  as  one  note  reads. 

Thirty-first  month.  —  The  favorite  playthings  were  — 
a  wagon,  balls,  whips,  named  in  the  order  of  preference. 
.  .  .  One  of  his  neighbor  friends,  for  his  amusement, 
tied  two  ropes  to  a  post  so  he  could  sit  on  a  chair  and 
play  he  was  driving.  The  play  engrossed  his  attention 
for  a  short  time  —  one  day  —  then  was  given  up  and 
never  resumed  though  the  ropes  were  played  with  in 
other  ways.  ...  A  number  of  observations  were 
made  in  this  month  in  order  to  answer  the  question,  how 
do  children  of  this  age  play  when  two  or  three  of  them 
are  together  ?  what  do  they  do  ?  It  was  found  that  they 
would  sit  or  stand  beside  one  another  by  the  half  hour, 
talking  or  parleying  about  and  handling  playthings. 
Walking  about  the  lawn,  putting  toys  in  a  wagon  and 
drawing  it,  were  other  forms  of  play. 

Thirty-second  month.  —  The  desire  to  be  with  children 
near  his  own  age  reached  high  tide  during  this  month, 
and  his  chief  delight  was  in  being  with  K.,  his  playmate, 
a  near  neighbor's  child.  As  soon  as  he  was  awake  or 
meals  were  over  he  wished  to  be  with  her,  saying,  "  see 
K.  now,"  "  go  K.'s  house  now,"  "  K.  come  Wadu's  house," 


248  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

and  so  on.  In  order  to  be  with  her  he  would  run  away 
every  chance  he  got,  unmindful  of  pretty  sharp  punish- 
ment for  it.  Their  favorite  play  when  together  was  run- 
ning about  with  little  wagons  over  the  lawn  and  up  and 
down  side-walks.  Sometimes  K.,  his  playmate,  was  in 
the  wagon,  sometimes  a  pair  of  headless  and  armless 
dolls,  sometimes  the  wagon  was  empty.  .  .  .  Making 
"  choo-choo  "  (train  of  cars)  with  blocks  was  another  of 
the  child's  plays  which  furnished  him  much  entertain- 
ment during  this  month. 

Thirty-third  month.  —  The  leading  occupation  in  this 
month  continued  to  be  running  about  with  the  little 
wagon.  Sometimes  the  wagon  was  empty,  sometimes 
rag-dolls  were  in  it,  sometimes  K.  or  R.'s  infant  brother. 
On  the  first  day  of  the  month,  I  observed  the  child  as  he 
was  engaged  in  the  imitative  play  of  putting  a  doll  to 
sleep,  the  whole  performance  being  a  rough  copy  —  yet 
true  as  to  the  number  of  details  —  of  his  mother's  putting 
his  infant  brother  to  bed.  (Doll  play  is  described  more 
fully  under  Imitation,  page  1 36f.) 

Thirty -fourth  month.  —  Two  new  forms  of  play  were 
noted  in  this  month.  One  consisted  of  pretending  he 
was  a  "  choo-choo  in  uh  depot,"  as  he  crawled  under 
tables.  This  play  was  suggested  by  a  recent  trip  to  a 
railway  station.  Another  play  was  house-building  with 
children's  blocks.  The  house  was  a  one  rooni  structure, 
and  having  only  one  door. 


PLAY  249 

Thirty-fifth  month.  —  The  house  building  with  the 
blocks  continued  as  in  the  preceding  month.  Making 
"  choo-choos  "  by  arranging  blocks  in  rows  also  occupied 
him  a  good  deal.  (See  Fig.  5,  Plate  IV.)  The  child  also 
spent  a  great  deal  of  time  in  looking  at  pictures  in 
books,  magazines,  catalogues  and  the  like.  Other  plays 
were  paper-cutting  and  throwing  pebbles. 

Thirty- sixth  month.  —  The  three  play  activities  which 
were  most  prominent  in  this  month  were:  making  houses 
of  blocks  and  placing  in  them  pencils,  pen-knives,  keys 
and  the  like  so  they  would  not  "  take  cole,"  as  the  child 
expressed  it ;  looking  through  magazines,  books  and 
papers  and  examining,  naming,  and  talking  to  pictures 
he  found  in  them  ;  playing  with  balls  —  throwing,  toss- 
ing, bouncing,  kicking  them.  The  child  was  busy  the 
greater  part  of  two  days  in  the  latter  part  of  the  month 
writing  letters  to  "Sa-Kauf"  (Santa  Glaus)  which  usually 
read,  "  bing  Wa  (R.)  choo-choo,  bing  Wa  doUie,  bing 
Wa  hippo,"  and  so  on. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

PICTURES 

It  is  no  more  to  be  wondered  at  that  a  baby  a  few 
months  old  should  be  interested  in  pictures  than  that  he 
should  be  interested  in  rattles,  tassels,  tin  boxes,  dolls, 
and  the  Hke.  Pictures  are  things  of  varying  light  and 
color,  and  that  is  enough,  at  first,  to  make  them  pleasing 
to  the  baby.  At  first,  then,  the  Uttle  child's  attitude 
toward  pictures  is  not  to  be  thought  of  as  different  in 
kind  from  his  attitude  toward  dozens  of  other  things 
which  he  sees  around  him.  A  second  stage  in  the  child's 
manner  of  regarding  pictures  is  reached  when  he  calls 
them  by  the  same  name  or  acts  toward  them  as  he  does 
toward  the  objects  which  they  represent ;  when,  for  ex- 
ample, he  acts  toward  the  photograph  of  a  baby  as  he 
does  toward  a  real  baby,  or  toward  a  picture  of  a  kitten 
as  he  does  toward  the  house- pet.  Often  before  the  end 
of  the  first  year  children  "  recognize  "  pictures  ;  that  is,  see 
the  similarity  between  pictures  and  familiar  objects,  e,  g.^ 
persons,  animal  pets,  toys,  playthings  and  the  like.  Thus, 
Miss  Shinri  relates  that  her  niece  (293d  day)  became  ex- 
cited over  a  picture  of  a  cat,  "  crying  out  as  she  did  at 
the  sight  of  real  cats,"  and  thereafter  seemed  to  recog- 
nize  a   picture  of  a  cat  "judging  by  the  similarity  of 

250 


PICTURES  251 

demonstration  toward  it  and  real  cats."  On  the 
327th  day,  the  same  child  "  turned  over  the  leaves  of  a 
picture  book  and  found  a  picture  of  a  cat's  head,  full 
front,  and  put  her  finger  on  it  with  a  cry."  In  the 
twelfth  month,  my  child  J.  had  the  curious  trick  of  put- 
ting his  finger  in  one's  eye  with  a  cry  of  dehght.  The 
eye  seemed  to  be  a  thing  which  particularly  interested 
him.  In  making  a  series  of  tests  of  his  ability  to  recog- 
nize pictures,  it  was  found  that  he  acted  in  the  same 
manner  when  given  a  picture  of  a  human  face ;  i.  e,y  he 
would  lean  over  and  put  his  finger  on  the  eye  with  a  cry 
of  pleasure,  which  seemed  to  indicate  that  he  saw  the  re- 
semblance between  a  real  eye  and  the  eye  as  represented 
in  the  picture. 

A  stage  higher  than  those  just  mentioned  is  reached 
when  the  child  calls  a  picture  by  the  same  name  as  he 
does  the  real  object,  but  at  the  same  time  acts  differently 
toward  the  two.  The  picture  and  the  object  are  classed 
under  the  same  name ;  yet  it  is  clear  that  the  child  knows 
them  as  different.  A  striking  illustration  of  this  stage 
appeared  in  the  study  of  R.'s  fears  of  animals  (see  pp.  100, 
102).  Thus,  it  was  found,  during  the  twentieth  month, 
that  while  the  child  was  very  much  afraid  of  real  cats 
( "  tats  "  ),  and  would  scamper  away  when  they  came 
near  him,  yet  he  showed  not  the  slightest  fear  of  pictures 
of  cats  —  which  he  also  called  "  tats  "  ;  indeed,  that  he 
enjoyed  holding  and  looking  at  them. 


252  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

It  is  not  to  be  understood,  I  think,  that  difference  in  actions 
toward  pictures  and  the  objects  which  they  represent  means 
that  the  child,  at  first,  grasps  the  meaning  or  purport  of  the 
picture  ;  that  is,  understands  that  it  is  a  representation.  Prob- 
ably the  difference  in  behavior  means  no  more  than  that  the 
child  regards  the  pictures  of  the  cats,  dogs,  locomotives  and  so 
on  as  different  cats,  dogs,  and  so  forth.  The  understanding 
of  pictures  as  representations  is  one  of  slow  growth  and  not 
fully  developed  until  language  comes  to  the  aid  of  the  teacher, 
who  is  then  able  to  show  the  child  the  difference  between 
<*  real  "  objects  and  their  representations. 


Although,  as  we  have  just  seen,  children  come  very- 
early  to  recognize,  in  a  way,  the  difference  between  pic- 
tures and  real  things,  and  to  act  differently  toward  the 
two,  the  difference  to  the  child  is  not  a  hard  and  fast  one ; 
and  it  is  often  found  that  children  react  to  pictures  not  as 
pictures,  but  as  real  objects  or  situations.  Many  pictures 
are  as  "  real "  to  the  child  as  are  real  objects,  just  as  a 
vivid  piece  of  stage  acting,  to  many  grown  persons,  is  as 
impressive  and  '•  real "  as  if  it  were  a  scene  from  real  life, 
and  not  merely  acting.  Miss  Shinn  gives  two  pretty  il- 
lustrations of  this  in  the  instances  of  her  niece's  sympathy 
being  stirred  by  pictures  —  once  by  "  a  picture  of  a  lamb 
caught  in  briars  which  the  child  tried  to  free  by  lifting  a 
branch  which  lay  across  him  m  the  picture  " ;  again,  in 
the  last  week  of  her  thirty-fifth  month,  "  looking  at  a 
picture  of  a  chamois  defending  her  little  one  from  an 
eagle,  (she)  asked  anxiously  if  the  mamma  would  drive 


PICTURES  253 

the  eagle  away,  and  presently,  quite  simply  and  uncon- 
sciously, placed  her  little  hand  edgewise  on  the  picture, 
so  as  to  make  a  fence  between  the  eagle  and  the 
chamois."  ^  On  a  given  day  in  the  early  part  of  R.'s 
twenty-seventh  month,  while  making  a  study  of  his  man- 
ner of  holding  a  pair  of  scissors,  I  gave  him  a  pair  of 
scissors,  and  a  newspaper  to  cut.  As  he  was  cutting  at 
random  across  the  paper  he  suddenly  stopped,  and  cried, 
"  hut  man,  hut  man,"  /.  e.,  hurt  the  man  —  when  he  care- 
lessly cut  into  the  picture  of  a  man.  For  a  moment  or 
two  the  child  was  much  disturbed  by  the  notion  that  he 
had  hurt  the  man.  ^ 

It  is  a  matter  of  interest  to  determine  what  pictures  in- 
dividual children  recognize  first ;  that  is,  whether  of  per- 
sons, of  animals,  or  of  toys  and  playthings.  Miss  Shinn 
was  of  the  opinion  that  the  first  picture  recognized  by  her 
niece  was  that  of  a  kitten ;  that  is,  it  was  the  first  picture 
which  called  forth  the  same  conduct  on  the  child's  part  as 
the  presence  of  the  real  object.  I  gather  from  Mrs. 
Moore's  statement  that  her  child  "  was  interested  in  pic- 
tures of  persons  for  months  before  he  cared  for  illustra- 
tions of  other  things,"  that  the  child  "  recognized  "  the 
pictures  of  persons  before  those  of  other  things  ;  although, 


1  Notes  on  the  Development  of  a  Child,  p.  104. 

2  One  point  found  in  all  of  these  three  cases  is  curious  enough  to  re- 
mark, namely,  the  idea  of  physical  harm  called  forth  expressions  of  sym- 
pathy on  the  part  of  the  children. 


254  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

of  course,  the  child's  neglect  of  "  other  things  "  may  have 
been  due  to  his  strong  preference  for  the  human  pictures. 
My  own  study  did  not  include  careful  attention  to  this 
point,  but  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  both  R.  and  J.  recog- 
nized photographs  of  persons,  i.  e.,  saw  resemblance  be- 
tween the  photograph  and  the  human  face,  before  they 
recognized  pictures  of  other  objects.  This  is  as  one 
would  expect.  The  human  face  being  seen  very  often, 
and,  presumably,  very  interesting  to  the  baby,  would  be 
better  impressed  on  his  mind,  and  so  would  have  greater 
reviving  power  than  less  interesting  images  which  occur 
less  frequently.  But  it  should  be  said,  the  question  of  the 
earliest  recognitions  of  pictures  is  not  a  matter  easily  ob- 
served or  investigated,  since  so  much  depends  upon  the 
nature  of  the  pictures  used,  the  previous  experience  of  the 
child,  what  things  he  has  seen  oftenest,  the  interest  which 
the  experimenter  may  throw  about  the  investigation,  the 
mood  of  the  child,  and  the  like. 

A  number  of  observers  have  remarked  that  children 
are  indifferent  to  the  positions  of  the  pictures  they  are 
handling  or  examining,  that  they  do  not  mind  whether  a 
•picture  is  right  way  up  or  wrong.  Sully  quotes  from  a 
friend,  a  psychologist,  "  that  his  little  girl  aged  three  and 
a  half, '  does  not  mind  whether  she  looks  at  a  picture  the 
right  way  up  or  the  wrong ;  she  points  out  what  you  ask 
for,  eyes,  feet,  hands,  tail,  and  so  forth  about  equally  well 
whichever  way  up  the  picture  is,  and  never  asks  to  have 


PICTURES  255 

it  put  right  that  she  may  see  it  better.' "  ^  Mrs.  Moore 
reports  concerning  her  child  that  when  handhng  pictures  : 
"  Naturally  he  got  them  inverted.  The  reversal  never 
seemed  to  trouble  him  in  the  least,  and  until  the  ninety- 
third  week,  he  continued  to  look  at  them  either  way  with 
evident  enjoyment."  ^ 

My  observations  with  reference  to  R.'s  regard  for  the  position 
of  pictures  began  near  the  middle  of  his  seventeenth  month. 
At  that  time  and  ever  afterward,  the  child  insisted  on  having 
pictures  —  photographs  and  other  pictures  —  right  side  up. 
On  a  number  of  days  during  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth 
months,  I  handed  him  pictures  reversed,  and  he  invariably  set 
them  right  as  soon  as  he  got  hold  of  them.  On  one  occasion 
(nineteenth  month)  I  arranged  a  row  of  photographs,  wrong  way 
up,  on  the  shelf  of  a  bookcase.  Presently  the  child  found  them 
and  proceeded  to  reverse  them.  On  another  occasion  (twen- 
tieth month)  I  gave  him  a  collection  of  eight  photographs  — 
men,  women  and  children  —  and  asked  him  to  place  them  on 
the  shelf  of  a  bookcase.  This  he  did,  one  at  a  time,  taking 
care  to  get  the  right  side  up.  Then  I  asked  his  mother  to  call 
the  child  to  another  room  for  a  few  moments  while  I  inverted 
four  of  the  pictures.  When  the  child  returned,  he  noticed  the 
change  at  once  and  proceeded  to  right  them.  A  similar  regard 
for  the  correct  position  of  pictures  of  animals,  houses,  wagons, 
figures  on  blocks  —  whatever  he  found  in  the  way  of  represen- 
tation —  was  frequently  noticed  in  the  remaining  months  of  the 
second  and  third  years.  Usually,  he  was  able  to  recognize  pic- 
tures when  they  were  inverted  or  when  they  were  held  in  other 

*  Studies  of  Childhood^  p.  310. 

*  Op.  cit.f  p.  60. 


256  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

than  an  upright  position,  but  when  he  got  hold  of  an  inverted 
picture  his  first  work  was  to  get  it  upright.  The  child  J.,  on 
the  other  hand,  was  entirely  indifferent  as  to  the  positions  of 
pictures,  and  did  not,  prior  to  the  thirtieth  month,  make  any 
effort  to  right  pictures  which  were  handed  to  him  in  an  in- 
verted position,  or  when  freely  handling  them  as  he  found  them 
in  his  play  with  picture-books,  cards,  blocks  and  the  like.  I 
have  no  satisfactory  explanation  of  the  rather  exceptional  regard 
which  R.  had  for  the  proper  position  of  pictures.  A  simple 
explanation  would  be  to  say  that  the  child  got  very  accurate 
and  very  vivid  images  of  the  positions  and  relations  of  the 
parts  of  real  objects,  and  was  not  satisfied  until  the  representa- 
tion agreed  with  the  copy.  It  was  a  kind  of  precocity  the  nat- 
ural history  of  which  one  could  not  determine  without  especial 
care  and  study. 

Children  often  develop  very  strong,  but,  as  a  rule, 
transient  preferences  for  pictures  of  different  kinds  — 
much  as  they  do  for  toys  and  playthings.  At  first,  a 
child,  as  in  the  case  of  Mrs.  Moore's  boy,  will  pass  by  all 
pictures  except  those  of  people.  A  year  later,  a  picture 
of  a  cat  may  be  the  same  child's  favorite ;  and  still  later,  a 
picture  of  a  large  monkey  vi^earing  a  gown,  glasses  and  a 
cap  affords  greatest  delight.  Miss  Shinn  says  that  her 
niece's  interest  in  pictures  (middle  of  nineteenth  month), 
"  narrowed  to  an  almost  exclusive  desire  for  pictures  of 
birds,  which  was  for  some  days  a  passion ;  and  for  weeks 
to  *  see  birdy  in  book '  was  a  frequent  appeal."  My  own 
record  contains  many  statements  like  that  just  quoted 
from  Miss  Shinn.     At  first,  pictures  of  human  beings,  es- 


PICTURES  257 

pecially  babies  and  children,  were  R.'s  favorites.  Later, 
pictures  of  animals  —  cats,  dogs,  cows,  elephants,  an  elk 
with  great  horns  —  pictures  of  locomotives,  and  certain 
Mother  Goose  pictures  —  the  cow  jumping  over  the  moon 
was  one  —  each  had  their  weeks  or  months  when  they 
were  frequently  called  for,  pored  over,  and  "  talked  "  to 
with  great  pleasure  by  the  half  hour. 

One  who  had  not  attended  to  the  matter  would  say 
off-hand,  very  likely,  that  children  would  prefer  colored 
pictures  to  uncolored  ones.  Observation  shows,  however, 
that,  generally  speaking,  children  under  two  and  a  half 
or  three  show  no  decided  preference  either  way.  At 
first,  the  child  is  interested  in  pictures  merely  as  objects ; 
then  later,  in  the  observed  similarity  between  pictures  and 
objects  —  persons,  animals,  machines  —  which  they  rep- 
resent, and  not  in  the  color.  Color  is  subordinate  in 
point  of  interest  to  the  image  which  the  picture  furnishes. 
Miss  Shinn  writes  on  this  point,  "  We  were  never  able  to 
see  that  there  was  any  distinct  preference  for  colored  pic- 
tures over  uncolored,  and  those  first  recognized  were  very 
much  in  outline."  Mrs.  Moore  says  her  boy  "  never 
evinced  the  least  preference  for  colored  over  uncolored 
pictures."  My  notes  on  this  question  are  in  agreement 
with  those  just  quoted ;  in  fact,  we  thought,  on  a  number 
of  occasions,  that  uncolored  pictures  were  preferred  to 
colored  ones  ;  but  we  did  not  follow  the  matter  carefully 
enough  to  say  positively  that  such  was  the  case.     All 


258  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

that  we  found  was  that  colored  pictures  frequently  were 
laid  aside  for  uncolored  ones  ;  but  it  might  have  been  be- 
cause the  objects  represented  in  the  uncolored  pictures 
were  more  interesting  at  the  time  than  those  portrayed 
in  the  colored  ones. 

Observations  and  experiments.  —  In  addition  to  the 
observations  recorded  in  the  preceding  paragraphs,  I 
made  a  number  of  experiments  bearing  upon  the  ques- 
tion of  R.'s  manner  of  recognizing,  or  apperceiving,  and 
naming  pictures  of  familiar  objects ;  also  of  pictures  hav- 
ing some  resemblance  to  objects  which  the  child  knew 
fairly  well.  In  order  to  carry  on  the  tests  along  this  Hne,  I 
collected  more  than  one  hundred  different  pictures  from 
the  advertising  pages  of  magazines,  circus  bills,  and  news- 
papers. The  pictures  were  kept  in  a  heap,  unclassified, 
and  were  frequently  shown  to  the  child  beginning  with 
the  first  week  of  his  twentieth  month  and  at  intervals 
until  the  end  of  his  third  year.  Very  often  the  child 
came  to  my  study  and  asked  to  see  the  "  pichees  " ;  at 
other  times,  he  went  through  the  heap,  or  part  of  it,  by 
request  —  as  an  older  child  might  go  through  his  lesson 
in  naming  words. 

In  the  remaining  paragraphs  of  this  chapter,  a  number 
of  the  pictures  have  been  classified  and  the  names  the 
child  gave  to  the  pictures  are  arranged  by  weeks  in  tables. 
The  first  group  may  be  called  the  "  animal "  group.  (The 
figures  which  are  set  after  the  names  of  the  animals  give 


PICTURES 


259 


roughly,  in  inches,  the  dimensions  of  the  picture.     .     .     . 
The  *  indicates  the  point  at  which  the  true  name  of  the 
object  represented  by  the  picture  was  given  to  the  child.) 
Naming  pictures  of  animals. — 


Week. 

Tiger  3x6. 

Bear  jx6. 

Lion's  Head 
10x12. 

Rhinoceros 
4x7. 

85th 

mum^ 

wow-wow 
and  mum 

tat 
(cat) 

mum 

86th 

wow-wow,  hip 
(dog) 

wow-wow 

tat  and  kak 

(( 

87th 

« 

« 

« 

u 

88th 

« 

89th 

mum 

(( 

« 

« 

99th 

« 

looth 

no  answer 

103d 

wow-wow 

tittie  (kittie) 

1 1 6th 

« 

apootos 
(elephant) 

tidie 

apootot 
(elephant) 

I22d 

wow-wow 

123d 

« 

127th 

« 

i( 

cow 

133d 

no  answer 

(  no  answer 

no  answer 

139th 

kiddie 

-!  "  papa  tell 
(iss"* 

147th 

« 

peah 
(bear) 

kiddie 

156th 

wow-wow 

beah 

kittie 

hippo 

Week. 

Giraffe  yxio. 

Elephant. 
3^5 

Cow  1X2. 

Donkey  3x4. 

85th 

mum 

mum 

86th 

.<     * 

mum  * 

mum 

« 

87th 

"     wiafF  (giraffe) 

mum,  wiafF 
(giraffe) 

and  efaff 
(elephant) 

89th 

waflf-wi 

waff-wi 

« 

Dat  (horse) 

99th 

mum 

weehee 

« 

(( 

looth 

wihee  (giraffe) 

1  "  Mum  "  at  that  time  was  the  child's  name  for  all  four-legged  animals, 
except  dogs  and  cats. 


26o 


FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 


Week. 

Giraffe  7x10. 

Elephant. 
3x5 

Cow  1x2. 

Donkey  3x4. 

103d 
1 1 6th 

I22d 

126th 
133d 
147th 
156th 

Wasees,  or  Wahees 

(giraffe) 
Dat,  Epha 

Efuff  (elephant) 
« 

Do't  know 

Apooto 

(elephant) 
Efu 
Efufif 

Ephut 

Cow 
« 

Hoss 

Week. 

Kitten  2x2. 

Rat 
1 1-2x2  1-2. 

Rabbit  2x4. 

Raccoon  2x4. 

83d 

Ka  (kittie) 

Ka  (kittie) 

mum 

mum 

89th 

tat 

wow-wow 

wow-wow 
or  mum 

wow-wow 

99th 

wow-wow 

(( 

looth 

titee 

no  answer 

" 

M 

103d 

ti-tie 

wow-wow 

" 

(( 

Ii6th 

no  answer 

M 

« 

I22d 

Li  kittie 

127  th 

« 

M 

139th 

no  answer  * 

kiddie,  nuna 
wabbit 

147th 

wabbit 

Beah  (Bear) 

156th 

Kit 

« 

Do't  know 

Chick  just 

Week, 

Hen  1 1-2x2. 

out  0/  shell 

IXI  1-2. 

Owl  IXI  1-2. 

Parrot  1x2. 

83d 

ti-tit 

(chicken) 

ba-bee 

86th 

tic-ti 

«< 

89th 

« 

ti-tit 

bu,  but,  bid 

(bird) 
bid 

99th 

« ti-tie  "  and  "  bid  " 

ti-ti 

(bird) 

1 00th 

bid 

103d 

ti-tie 

n6th 

bid 

123d 

biddie,  chick 

126th 

chic-chic 

139th 

chigie 

chickie 

kiddie 

146th 

chicken 

chicken 

« 

156th 

« 

bud 

«  Kit  "  and 
«  budie  » 

bud 

PICTURES  261 

Drawings  of  the  human  face.  —  Beginning  with  R.'s 
eighty-sixth  week,  and  continuing  at  intervals  until  the 
close  of  his  third  year,  a  series  of  tests  was  made  to  de- 
termine what  feature  or  features  were  necessary  in  order 
to  get  the  child  to  perceive  a  drawing  as  that  of  the 
human  face.  For  example,  would  a  drawing  which  rep- 
resented only  the  nose  and  eyes  suggest  the  human  face  ? 
The  same  problem,  put  negatively,  was  —  how  many  of 
the  features  of  the  human  face  may  be  omitted  from  a 
drawing  and  still  leave  the  figure  suggestive  to  the  child 
of  the  human  face  ?  Or,  still  further,  the  question  was, 
what,  to  the  child,  are  the  marks  of  recognition  of  draw- 
ings of  the  human  face  ?  Is  it  some  one  facial  feature  — 
the  nose,  ears,  eyes,  the  outhne  of  the  head,  the  beard  — 
or  some  of  these  in  combination  which  suggest  "  man  " 
to  the  child  ? 

In  these  tests,  sixteen  drawings  in  all  were  used.  The 
method  of  experimenting  was  to  show  the  child  the 
drawing,  at  the  same  time  asking.  What  is  this  ?  his  an- 
swer or  remarks,  if  any,  being  written  down  at  once. 
(The  drawings  which  were  used  are  reproduced  on 
page  262.) 


m^ 


9/Q 

Fig.  6. — (Drawings  eeduced  one-foueth.) 


(262) 


PICTURES 


263 


In  the  table  which  follows,  the  figures  on  page  262  are  referred 
to  by  number ;  what  the  child  called  the  figures  in  reply  to  the 
question,  What  is  that?  being  arranged  by  weeks  in  col- 
umns :  — 


Drawings  of  human  face — front  view. — 


Week. 

Figure 
No.  I. 

No.  2. 

No.  3. 

No.  4. 

No.s. 

No.  6. 

86th 

«B" 

«B" 

B 

89th 

«B" 

«B" 

Band  O 

99th 

"  B  "  and 
«0" 

«0" 

«B" 

«  B  " 

«B" 

B 

103d 

"B" 

«B" 

ii6th 

"O" 

"  man," 

"  man  " 

I22d 

"0,"«eyes" 

«B" 

"0" 

«  man  " 

126th 

"0" 

"0" 

"0" 

139th 

«« 0  "  and 
«  man  " 

"man,"  "0" 

"0" 

"  man  " 

man 

150th 

"0" 

«•  man  " 

"0" 

"O" 

«  man  " 

man 

156th 

«  man  " 

"man" 

"O," 
"baw," 
"  nose  " 

"  fly  on 
uhO" 

it 

Week. 

No.  7. 

No.  8. 

No,  g. 

No.  10. 

No.  II. 

No.  12. 

86th 

ladle-la 

89th 

((      (« 

99th 

B 

B 

Fow-wu 
(flower) 

man 

B 

«      « 

103d 

man 

B 

0 

((     « 

ii6th 

0 

man 

nove  (nose) 

B 

man 

I22d 

0,  eyes 

0,  mouf,  eyes 

nove 

0 

man 

126th 

0,  «o 

got 
glasses  " 

0 

0 

lady 

139th 

man 

0,  man 

150th 

man 

eye,    glasses 

"  big  man  " 

man,  0 

156th 

man 

« 

eyes,  nose 

man 

man,0 

lady 

264  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

Profile  drawings  of  human  face. — 


Week. 


86th 

89th 

99th 

103d 

1 1 6th 

I22d 

127th 

139th 

150th 
156th 


No.  ij. 


No.   14. 


"  B  "  and  «  man  ■ 
man 


O 

man 


No.  IS. 

No.   16. 

man 

man 

no  answer 
B 

man 
B 

« 

man 

man 

B 

line 

man 

Naming  photographs.  —  In  the  last  week  of  R.'s  nine- 
teenth month,  I  showed  him  a  series  of  photographs,  ask- 
ing him  to  name  each  one  as  it  was  shown  him.  The 
order  in  which  they  were  shown,  and  the  name  he  gave 
each  one,  is  cis  follows  :  — 

Photograph  of  man  with  full  beard,      Age  70,  called  "  Man." 


((               ( 

(        ((         « 

moustache, 

« 

25. 

« 

« 

<(               ( 

*   young  man,  beardless, 

« 

20, 

« 

« 

((             ( 

*   man  with  moustache. 

« 

26, 

« 

« 

«             < 

<      ((       « 

side-whiskers. 

« 

60, 

(( 

« 

«               < 

(      <(       (« 

full  beard. 

<( 

30. 

« 

« 

((               < 

'    girl. 

M 

7» 

i( 

«  babie." 

«               ( 

(      <( 

(( 

II, 

« 

M 

((               ( 

(      « 

« 

15. 

« 

ladle-la  (lady) 

((               ( 

*   woman. 

(1 

30, 

« 

ladle-la. 

An  examination  of  the  foregoing  table  shows  that  the 
child  called  all  the  photographs  of  men,  regardless  of 
age,  "  man  " ;  that  is,  a  grown,  male  person  was  "  man." 
Size,  facial  features  and  clothing,  perhaps,  were  the  de- 
termining factors  in  naming.     The  series  contained  no 


PICTURES  265 

photographs  of  boys  or  youths  under  twenty,  but  I  have 
no  doubt  that  photographs  of  boys  less  than  full  grown 
would  have  been  called  "  babies,"  as  that  was  his  name, 
at  that  time,  for  real  boys  and  youths  who  were  not 
clearly  of  man's  size.  Thus,  on  one  occasion,  when  we 
were  driving,  he  noticed  an  under-sized  man  and  cried 
"  babie."  In  this  connection,  one  may  note  in  the  table 
that  the  photographs  of  the  girls  aged  seven  and  eleven 
were  called  "  babie,"  while  the  girl  of  fifteen  and  the 
woman  of  thirty  were  "  ladle-las  "  (ladies).  This  rather 
peculiar  classification  was  due  in  part,  no  doubt,  to  the 
fact  that  the  child  had  not  at  that  time  mastered  the 
words  "  boy "  and  "  girl."  "  Man,"  "  ladle-la,"  and 
"  babie,"  however,  were  in  frequent  use,*and  when  per- 
sons did  not  belong  clearly  in  one  of  the  first  two  classes 
they  were  classed  with  "  babies." 

Another  series  of  tests  was  made  with  what  —  for 
want  of  a  better  name  —  I  shall  call  "  divided  "  pictures  ; 
that  is,  some  of  the  pictures  which  I  had  gathered  from 
magazines  and  elsewhere  were  cut  in  two  or  more  pieces, 
each  piece  containing  one  or  more  features,  which  an 
older  person  would  recognize  at  once  as  belonging  to  a 
given  object.  In  the  tests,  the  pieces  were  shown  to  the 
child  one  at  a  time  with  the  question.  What  is  that  ?  his 
answer  being  written  down  at  the  time. 

The  series  included  —  (i)  a  kitten's  head  (front  view) 
which  was  divided  just  above  the  eyes  in  two  pieces  ;  (2) 


266  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL   GROWTH 

a  shoe  cut  in  two  at  the  instep  leaving  the  "  upper  "  in 
one  piece  and  the  foot  and  heel  in  the  other ;  (3)  the  pic- 
ture of  a  little  girl  of  six  cut  across  making  three  pieces, 
one  piece  showing  the  face,  a  second  representing  the 
child's  feet  and  ankles,  and  a  third  picturing  the  remain- 
der of  the  body  dressed  in  the  fashion  of  the  day  (this 
part  of  the  picture  showed  the  child's  arms  and  hands 
quite  distinctly,  which  served  as  the  marks,  I  thought,  by 
which  R.  recognized  the  picture) ;  (4)  a  picture  of  a 
woman  in  a  walking  suit.  This  last  picture  was  cut  in 
two  at  the  neck,  the  interest  in  the  test  being  to  find 
out  what  the  child  would  call  the  figure  after  being  de- 
capitated. 

The  experiments  with  the  "  divided  "  pictures  began  in 
the  eighty-third  week  and  continued  at  intervals  to  the 
end  of  the  third  year.  It  is  perhaps  unnecessary  to  tab- 
ulate the  answers  which  the  child  gave  since  they  were 
uniform  throughout,  and  can  be  stated  in  a  paragraph. 

(i)  The  two  parts  of  the  picture  of  the  kitten  were  al- 
ways recognized  and  named  as  ka,  tat,  or  kittie.  Once 
one  piece  was  referred  to  as  a  "  bloke  kiddie  "  (broken 
kittie).  (2)  The  two  halves  of  the  shoe  were  named 
"  shoe "  or  "  shoos  "  every  time.  (3)  The  two  upper 
parts  of  the  picture  of  the  little  girl  were  called  "  babie," 
until  the  last  quarter  of  the  third  year,  when  he  began  to 
name  them  "  guir'  (girl),  gullie,  or  IT  gull  (httle  girl). 
The  part  showing  the  feet  was  called  "  shoos  "  at  first, 


PICTURES  267 

and  later,  "  feet."  (4)  The  picture  of  the  walking  suit 
was  named  "  lady  "  invariably  until  the  last  month  of  the 
third  year  when  he  called  the  figure  "  dwess "  (dress). 
Once  in  the  thirty-fifth  month  he  remarked,  "  no  head 
on  uh  lady." 


or  THE 

RSITY 


CHAPTER  XIV 

BEHAVIOR  OF  THE  CHILD  BEFORE  HIS  IMAGE 

In  his  book  of  Fables,  ^Esop  tells  of  the  dog  that  mis- 
took his  own  image  in  the  water  for  another  dog  carry- 
ing a  bone,  and  that  he,  being  a  very  greedy  dog,  wanted 
another  bone  —  so  sprang  at  the  image,  and  failed  not 
only  to  get  the  other  bone,  but  lost  the  one  he  himself 
was  carrying.  Had  ^sop  —  or  whoever  the  ancient  was 
who  wrote  the  fable  —  been  an  animal  psychologist,  he 
would  have  told  us,  perhaps,  whether  the  greedy  dog 
learned  from  this  one  unhappy  experience  to  look  with 
caution  at  dogs  carrying  bones.  But  -^sop  was  only  a 
writer  of  fables,  and  the  only  fact  of  psychological  import 
is  that  the  dog  mistook  his  own  image  for  another  dog. 
The  fable  being  an  old  one  we  have  also  the  fact  that 
men  have  known  for  a  very  long  time  that  animals  are 
frequently  puzzled  and  misled  by  their  own  images. 

In  more  recent  times,  we  have  had  a  number  of  scien- 
tific inquiries  into  the  question  of  just  how  animals  of  dif- 
ferent species  behave  toward  their  images  ;  whether  they 
can  learn  that  the  image  is  not  another  creature  of  their 
own  kind ;  and  that  it  is  related  very  closely  to  themselves ; 

268 


BEHAVIOR  OF  THE  CHILD  BEFORE  HIS  IMAGE   269 

and,  if  so,  by  what  means,  and  what  are  the  steps  in 
learning  these  things.^ 

As  Preyer  remarks,  animals  show  a  great  variety  of 
behavior  in  these  respects.  Some  animals  are  pleased  by 
images  of  themselves,  and  seem  to  regard  them  as  they 
do  a  companion ;  others  become  angry  and  attack  the 
image  as  a  rival  or  enemy.  Darwin  thought  it  not  im- 
probable that,  "  When  birds  gaze  at  themselves  in  a  look- 
ing-glass, that  it  was  from  jealousy  at  a  supposed  rival." 
Darwin  also  recorded  the  curious  fact  that  the  higher 
apes,  with  which  he  experimented,  when  given  a  small 
looking-glass  "  placed  their  hands  behind  the  glass 
.  .  .  but,  far  from  taking  pleasure  in  looking  at 
themselves  (they)  got  angry  and  would  look  no  more."  ^ 
Darwin  did  not  undertake  to  explain  the  apes'  anger. 
Perhaps  it  was  a  form  of  disappointment,  or  of  impatience 
with  an  object  which  the  animals  could  not  understand, 
which  they  could  not  harmonize  with  their  ideas  of  what 
such    ape-like    appearing    things    should    be    and    do. 


'  Students  have  collected  a  vast  amount  of  data  with  reference  to  primi- 
tive peoples'  manner  of  thinking  of  images,  reflections,  shadows,  echoes, 
dream-images,  and  the  like.  Persons  who  have  read  the  chapters  m 
Spencer's  Principles  of  Sociology  in  which  he  develops  "  the  hypothesis 
that  religion  is  evolved  from  the  ghost-theory  "  will  recall  that  Spencer 
regards  the  primitive  man's  way  of  thinking  about  images,  shadows  and 
the  like,  which  he  takes  for  realities  of  some  sort,  as  an  important  agency 
in  developing  the  idea  of  a  double,  or  other  self,  which  exists  apart  from 
and  which  survives  after  the  death  of  the  body,  i.  e.^  as  a  ghost. 

SiJfiw./,  Vol.  II,  p.  289/. 


270  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL   GROWTH 

Preyer,  who  made  a  number  of  observations  of  the  be- 
havior of  animals  toward  their  images,  relates  that  when 
one  of  a  pair  of  ducks  died,  "  the  survivor  betook  him- 
self by  preference  to  a  cellar-window  that  was  covered  on 
the  inside  and  gave  strong  reflections,  and  he  w^ould  stand 
with  his  head  before  this  for  hours  every  day.  He  saw 
his  image  there  and  thought  perhaps  that  it  was  his  lost 
companion."  Preyer  was  of  the  opinion  that  a  kitten, 
before  which  he  held  a  small  mirror,  took  its  image  for  a 
second  living  cat,  "  for  she  went  behind  the  glass  and 
around  it  when  it  was  conveniently  placed."  These  few 
instances  will  suffice  to  indicate  some  of  the  forms  of  be- 
havior with  which  pioneer  investigators  in  this  field  have 
been  concerned,  and  a  few  of  the  conclusions  they  were 
able  to  reach  regarding  a  subject  which  is  worthy  of  care- 
ful investigation. 

Darwin  and  Preyer  also  made  a  number  of  observations 
of  the  behavior  of  infants  before  a  mirror.  Darwin 
records  of  one  of  his  sons  that, 

"When  four  and  a  half  months  old,  he  repeatedly  smiled  at 
my  image  and  his  own  in  a  mirror,  and  no  doubt  mistook  them 
for  real  objects ;  but  he  showed  sense  in  being  evidently  sur- 
prised at  my  voice  coming  from  behind  him.  Like  all  infants 
he  much  enjoyed  looking  at  himself,  and  in  less  than  two 
months  perfectly  understood  that  it  was  an  image,  for  if  I  made 
quite  silently  any  odd  grimace,  he  would  suddenly  turn  around 
to  look  at  me."  At  the  age  of  not  quite  nine  months,  the  child 
associated  his  own  name  with  his  image  in  the  looking-glass, 


BEHAVIOR  OF  THE  CHILD  BEFORE  HIS  IMAGE   271 

and  '*  when  called  by  name  would  turn  toward  the  glass  even 
when  at  some  distance  from  it." 

Preyer  began  his  experiments  in  his  child's  eleventh 
week  and  kept  a  much  fuller  record  than  Darwin.  Prey- 
er's  record,  considerably  abridged,  follows :  ^ 

"Eleventh  week, — the  child  does  not  see  himself  in  the 
glass ;  his  image  does  not  make  the  slightest  impression  on  him ; 
fourteenth  week,  —  the  child  looks  at  his  image  with  utter  indif- 
ference ;  sixteenth  week,  —  the  reflected  image  is  still  either 
ignored  or  looked  at  without  interest ;  seventeenth  week,  —  for 
the  first  time  the  child  regards  his  image  with  unmistakable  at- 
tention, and  indeed  with  the  same  expression  with  which  he  is 
accustomed  to  fix  his  gaze  on  a  strange  face  seen  for  the  first 
time;  three  days  later  the  child  for  the  first  time  undoubtedly 
laughed  at  his  image ;  twenty-fifth  week,  —  for  the  first  time 
the  child  stretched  his  hand  toward  his  own  image ;  twenty- 
sixth  week,  —  the  child  is  delighted  at  seeing  me  in  the  glass 
and  compares  the  original  with  the  image ;  thirty-fifth  week,  — 
the  child  gayly  grasps  at  his  image,  and  is  surprised  when  his 
hand  comes  in  contact  with  the  smooth  service ;  fifty-seventh 
week, — he  looked  at  his  image  then  passed  his  hand  behind 
the  glass  and  moved  the  hand  hither  and  thither  as  if  search- 
ing ;  sixtieth  week,  —  the  child  distinguished  with  certainty  his 
mother  from  her  image ;  sixty-second  week,  —  for  the  first  time 
Preyer  saw  the  child  making  grimaces  before  the  glass,  laugh- 
ing as  he  did  it ;  sixty-ninth  week,  —  the  child  looks  at  him- 
self in  the  glass  with  pleasure  and  often ;  signs  of  vanity  are 
perceived  ;  twenty-first  months  —  the  child  laughs  at  his  image 
in  the  glass,  and  points  to  it  when  I  ask,  where  is  Axel  ?  thirty- 

1  The  Mind  of  the  Child,  Part  II,  p.  197ft 


272  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

first  month,  —  it  afforded  the  child  great  pleasure  to  gaze  at  his 
image  in  the  glass." 

At  this  point,  may  be  reported  my  observations  of  the 
behavior  of  the  two  children  R.  and  J.  in  the  presence  of 
the  mirror.  My  first  observation  of  the  child  R.  was 
made  in  the  last  week  of  his  fifteenth  month.  Evidently 
he  was  pleased  at  the  sight  of  his  image,  cried  "  babee," 
and  leaned  over  and  kissed  the  image. 

In  the  last  week  of  the  seventeenth  month,  the  child 
behaved  exactly  as  he  did  on  the  former  occasion  when 
placed  in  front  of  a  mirror.  No  further  observations  of 
R.'s  actions  toward  his  image  were  made  until  the  first 
week  of  his  twenty-first  month  —  "  When,"  to  give  the 
language  of  the  note,  "  the  child  is  allowed  to  stand  in 
front  of  a  mirror  he  tries  to  play  with  his  image  precisely 
as  he  would  with  a  real  child.  He  tries  to  give  the 
'  babee  '  a  ball,  kisses  the  image,  says  *  peep  '  as  he  looks 
around  the  edge  of  the  mirror."  Three  days  later,  his 
actions,  when  standing  in  front  of  the  same  mirror,  were 
found  to  be  the  same  as  on  the  former  day  ;  that  is,  he  tried 
to  get  the  "  babee  "  to  take  the  ball ;  played  peek-a-boo 
with  it ;  talked  to  it  as  he  would  to  a  real  baby.  The 
only  conclusion  which  seemed  warranted  by  the  facts,  as 
I  saw  them,  was  that  the  child  thought  the  image  to  be 
a  real  child.  The  next  observation  was  made  in  the  first 
week  of  R.'s  twenty-eighth  month,  as  follows  :  —  I  took  a 
large  mirror  from  the  wall  and  stood  it  in  front  of  the 


BEHAVIOR  OF  THE  CHILD  BEFORE  HIS  IMAGE   273 

child.  He  stood  silent,  gazing  at  his  image  for  ten  sec- 
onds or  more,  then  drew  a  deep  breath,  and  looked 
toward  me.  I  asked,  Who  is  it  ?  to  which  he  replied, 
"  Babie,"  "Wawee"(his  name  for  himself ).  Evidently 
he  was  puzzled,  and  I  thought  just  the  least  particle 
alarmed  or  fearful  at  the  sight  of  the  image  when  he  first 
saw  it.  But  after  the  first  wave  of  bewilderment  or  alarm 
had  passed,  the  child  enjoyed  looking  at  his  image  and 
protested  when  I  hung  the  glass  in  its  place  on  the  wall. 
The  most  surprising  part  of  the  child's  behavior  on  this 
occasion  was  his  trying  to  grasp  the  image  of  a  ball 
which  he  saw  reflected  in  the  mirror  when  I  made  the 
experiment  of  standing  behind  him  and  holding  a  ball  so 
its  image  fell  in  the  mirror  at  a  convenient  place  to  sug- 
gest reaching  for  it.  One  trial  was  sufficient,  however,  to 
teach  him  that  the  ball  could  not  be  gotten  in  that  way, 
and  he  thereafter  refused  to  reach  for  the  image,  but 
turned  to  the  real  ball.  (Compare  the  experiments  with 
the  knife  and  watch —  described  in  the  next  paragraph  — 
with  the  child  J.  in  his  thirteenth  month.) 

When  the  child  J.  was  nine  days  past  his  first  year,  I 
observed  him  as  he  stood  in  front  of  a  large  mirror  which 
reached  almost  to  the  floor.  On  that  day,  his  conduct 
was  like  that  when  in  the  presence  of  other  children  — 
laughing  at  the  sight  of  the  image,  leaning  over  and  kiss- 
ing it,  crying  "  ah,"  trying  to  take  hold  of  the  fingers, 
nose,  hair  and  so  on.     He  stood  thus  entertaining  him- 


274  FIRST   STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

self  with  the  image  for  four  minutes  then  went  to  some- 
thing else.  Three  days  later,  I  allowed  him  to  look  at 
his  image  in  a  small  hand-mirror.  On  that  day  he  leaned 
over  and  kissed  the  image  as  he  would  have  another 
child.  On  the  following  day,  I  let  the  child  stand  in  front 
of  the  large  mirror  mentioned  above.  At  first,  he  leaned 
forward  and  kissed  the  image  as  on  former  days.  Then, 
as  he  stood  looking  at  his  image,  I  stood  behind  him  at 
a  distance  of  perhaps  three  feet  and  held  a  penknife  out 
of  his.  range  of  direct  vision,  but  so  that  the  reflection  of 
the  knife  in  the  mirror  would  fall  at  a  position  convenient 
for  reaching,  my  thought  being  that  he  would  reach  for 
the  image  of  the  knife  at  once.  But  I  guessed  wrongly, 
for  he  turned  around  almost  instantly  and  reached  for  the 
real  knife.  After  a  while  I  varied  the  experiment  by  sus- 
pending a  watch  from  the  chain  so  that  its  image  in  the 
mirror  fell  at  a  point  convenient  for  reaching.  When  the 
child  first  saw  the  image  he  made  a  slight  motion  toward 
it ;  but  he  inhibited  the  motion  at  once,  turned  around 
and  reached  for  the  real  watch.  Nine  days  later,  I  re- 
peated the  experiments  with  the  knife  and  watch  with 
results  like  those  of  the  earlier  days.  Why  the  child 
should  seem  so  naive  when  looking  at  his  own  image, 
and  on  the  same  day  prove  himself  so  sophisticated  with 
reference  to  the  images  of  the  knife  and  the  watch  was 
a  problem  for  which  I  know  no  better  solution  than  one 
offered  by  Dr.  A.  E.  Davies,  as  follows :  — 


BEHAVIOR  OF  THE  CHILD  BEFORE  HIS  IMAGE   275 

"We  have  in  each  case  the  customary  behavior  of  the  child 
toward  each  particular  object.  His  acquaintance  with 
'  babees '  depends  less  upon  contexts  than  possibly  any  other 
object.  Hence  '  surprise  '  does  not  operate  in  favor  of  discrim- 
ination. The  knife  and  the  watch,  on  the  contrary,  have  al- 
ways had  a  definite  setting.  The  child's  behavior  toward 
these  objects  would  seem  to  indicate  that  the  reflection  of  the 
customary  context  was  not  noticed  by  the  child.  If  this  is  so, 
it  is  a  case  of  association  by  contiguity ;  the  reflection  of  the 
knife  or  watch  reviving  the  image  of  the  father,  and  both  to- 
gether resulting  in  the  appropriate  reach  for  the  object."  ^ 

I  have  tried  to  account  for  the  difference  of  the  two 
children,  R.  and  J.,  with  respect  to  their  impulse  to  reach 
for  the  images  —  of  the  ball,  in  the  one  case  —  and  for 
the  images  of  the  knife  and  watch  in  the  other.  The 
child  R.  —  well  along  in  his  third  year  —  tried  to  grasp 
the  image  of  the  ball,  while  the  child  J.,  barely  past  his 
first  year,  promptly  turned  to  the  real  article,  knife  or 
watch.  The  only  theories  by  way  of  explanation  which 
occur  to  me,  and  which  are  consistent  with  other  facts, 
are — either  the  older  child,  R.,  is  the  more  suggestible, 
impulsive,  and  images  take  immediate  possession  of  his 
motor  apparatus ;  or  through  frequent  reaching  for  and 
grasping  balls,  the  "path  from  the  idea  "  ball "  (or  other 
object)  to  reaching'^loFit  has  become  smoother  in  the 
older  child  than  in  the  younger. 

In  concluding  this  brief  account  of  the  baby's  behavior 
before  the  mirror  we  may  inquire  what  are  the  agencies 


276  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

and  correlations  within  the  child's  experience  which  ena- 
ble him  (i),  to  pass  from  a  stage  in  which  he  regards  his 
image  as  a  real,  i.  e.y  tangible,  object  to  the  stage  in  which 
he  sees  that  it  is  not  a  real  object,  a  baby,  e.  g. ;  (2),  to 
realize  that  the  image  is  related  in  some  way  to  himself, 
and,  in  some  cases,  cause  the  child  to  look  upon  his  image 
as  another  self,  or  double.  With  reference  to  the  first 
point,  it  seems  probable  that  the  child  learns  that  the 
image  is  not  a  real  object  through  his  failure,  when  trying 
to  touch  or  grasp  the  image,  to  get  the  same  sensations 
he  gets  in  reaching  fb?,  touching,  grasping,  and  handling 
real  objects.  With  reference  to  the  second,  we  may  sup- 
pose that  the  child  first  learns  through  visual  sensations 
and  certain  sensations  of  movement  that  the  movements 
of  parts  of  his  body— «- his  feet,  arms,  hands  and  so  on  — 
are  parts  of  the  same  group  of  experiences  which  he 
gradually  comes  to  think  of  as  himself;  that  is,  he  sees 
some  of  these  movements  and  he  "  feels  "  them,  at  the 
same  time,  as  belonging  to  himself.  Now,  when  he  looks 
in  a  mirror  and  at  the  same  time  moves  parts  of  his  body, 
e,  g.f  his  head,  or  his  clrms  when  he  tries  to  grasp  the  im- 
age, or  when  he  opens  his  mouth  —  he  observes  that  the 
changes  in  the  image  and  the  changes  which  he  sees  and 
"  feels  "  his  own  body  making  occur  at  the  same  time,  and 
so  thinks  the  former  changes  are  in  some  way  related  to 
the  latter.  He  sees  and  feels  his  hand  move,  and  he  sees 
a  similar  movement  in  the  mirror  at  the  same  time  ;  he 


BEHAVIOR  OF  THE  CHILD  BEFORE  HIS  IMAGE  277 

feels  his  head  move  and  he  sees  a  change  in  the  image 
and  so  comes  to  think  of  the  two  in  the  relation  of  cause 
and  effect.  It  seems  reasonable  to  suppose,  to  use  the  | 
more  technical  terms,  that  the  child  learns  that  the  image  / 
is  related  to  himself  partly  through  the  blending  of  his 
visual  sensations,  and  partly  by  the  blending  of  his  visual 
and  kinaesthetic  sensations. 

This  explanation  seems  to  be  in  substantial  agreement 
with  the  one  offered  by  Professor  Sully,  as  follows : —       ^ 

"Little  by  little,"  Sully  writes,  "the  child  gets  used  to  the 
reflection,  and  then  by  noting  certain  agreements  between  his 
bodily  self  and  the  image,  as  the  movement  of  his  hand  when 
he  points,  and  partly,  too,  by  a  kind  of  inference  of  analogy 
from  the  doubling  of  other  things  by  the  mirror,  he  reaches  the 
idea  that  the  reflection  belongs  to  himself."  *  And  yet,  just 
what  these  hand-movements  are,  and  what  is  the  evidence  for 
believing  that  the  child  notes  agreements  between  them  and  the 
image,  and  whether  the  child  distinguishes  between  foreign  ob- 
jects and  their  images  before  or  after  he  discovers  that  his  own 
image  is  not  another  person,  and  how  the  two  lines  of  discovery 
are  related  —  these  questions,  so  far  as  the  writer  knows,  have 
not  been  the  subject  of  careful  observation  —  the  only  method  of 
arriving  at  satisfactory  conclusions  regarding  them. 

>  Studies  ofChildhoody  p.  113. 


CHAPTER  XV  ^ 


LANGUAGE 


f\13-^ 


No  class  of  infant  activities  appeals  more  strongly  to 
the  interest  of  both  the  learned  and  the  unlearned,  the 
scientific  and  the  unscientific,  than  the  baby's  struggles, 
defeats  and  victories,  in  acquiring  mastery  of  articulate 
speech.  Long  before  the  scientific  investigator  laid  claim 
to  this  fascinating  and  promising  territory,  parents  and 
kinsfolk  had  taken  pride  and  satisfaction  in  noting  roughly 
the  important  steps  in  the  baby's  progress  in  learning  to 
use  his  native  tongue.  Folk-lore  finds  some  of  its  quaint- 
est forms  clustering  about  the  speech  learning  process, 
and  early  mythology  taught  that  speech  is  the  gift  of  the 
gods.  It  appears,  therefore,  that  civilized  man,  even  in 
his  least  reflective  stages,  had  struck  upon  the  speech  fac- 
ulty as  a  peculiar,  distinguishing  characteristic  of  his  kind. 
To  his  objective  way  of  thinking,  speech,  more  than  any 
other  endowment,  marks  man  as  the  paragon  of  animals. 

To  those  who  approach  the  problem  of  infant  develop- 
ment critically  and  scientifically,  the  development  of  the 
ability  to  use  articulate  speech  presents  problems  of  pe- 
culiar interest,  and  for  two  principal  reasons :  first,  be- 
cause they  believe  that  a  systematic,  critical  study  of  the 
speech  acquiring  process  in  the  individual  child  will  throw 

278 


LANGUAGE  279 

light  upon  the  most  important  problems  of  psychogenesis. 
What  mind  is  like  in  its  beginnings ;  how  it  begins  to 
emerge  from  vague,  shadowy,  confused  processes  to  proc- 
esses clear  and  definite ;  how  it  develops  from  stage  to 
stage;  what  are  the  factors  involved  in  this  unfolding 
process ;  —  these  are  some  of  the  questions  which  they 
believe  can  be  lighted  up  by  watching  the  development 
of  the  speech  function  in  the  individual  child. 

The  questions  just  enumerated,  as  was  stated,  are  of 
especial  interest  to  students  of  the  mental  development 
of  the  individual  child  as  a  representative  of  a  race  having 
a  highly  developed  language.  In  the  second  place, 
students  of  anthropology  and  philology  have  been  at- 
tracted to  the  study  of  the  speech  development  of  the 
infant  in  the  hope  that  it  will  yield  some  help  in  answer- 
ing the  questions  regarding  the  origin  and  development 
of  speech  in  the  human  race.^     And  this  hope  has  not 

1  Jespersen,  in  the  closing  chapter  of  his  .work,  Progress  in  Languagiy 
writes  concerning  the  investigation  into  the  origin  of  language,  "  If  we  are 
to  have  any  hope  of  success  in  our  investigations,  we  must  therefore  look 
out  for  new  methods  and  new  ways."  Then,  after  giving  his  reasons  for 
expecting  little  help  from  the  observations  of  older  children's  efforts  in 
learning  an  already  existing  language,  he  continues,  "  If  we  are  seeking 
some  parallel  to  the  primitive  acquisition  of  language,  we  must  look  else- 
where and  go  to  baby  language  as  it  is  spoken  in  the  first  year  of  life,  be- 
fore the  child  has  as  yet  begun  to  '  notice '  and  to  make  out  what  use  is 
made  of  language  by  grown-up  people.  Here  in  the  child's  first  purpose- 
less murmuring,  crowing,  babbling,  we  have  real  nature  sounds ;  here  we 
may  expect  to  find  some  clue  to  the   infancy  of  the  language  of  the 


/■^ 


280  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

proven  vain.  Students  of  philology  discover  many  points 
of  similarity  between  the  developing  speech  of  the  infant 
and  the  speech  of  existing  primitive  peoples, —  whose 
speech,  presumably,  represents  early  stages  in  the  evolu- 
tion of  articulate  speech  in  the  race  —  and  adherents  of 
the  rival  theories  regarding  the  origin  of  the  human 
language  —  the  "  pooh-pooh,"  the  "  yo-he-ho,"  and  the 
"bow-wow"  theories,  as  they  are  sometimes  designated, 
find  in  infant  speech  many  facts  to  support  their  respective 
views,  suggesting  that  one  alone  is  inadequate,  and  that, 
perhaps,  all  are  required  for  a  full  explanation. 

But  it  is  not  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  lead  into  this 
vast  and  largely  unexplored  land.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place, 
however,  to  observe  that  if  one  would  journey  into  this  prim- 
itive world  with  the  expectation  of  bringing  back  treasures 
worth  the  while,  one  must  be  not  only  philologist,  but  also 
master  of  the  evolutionary  method  and  literature  —  particu- 
larly of  the  biological  and  psychological  sciences  as  they  have 
been  developed   in^  recerj^ye^p5?'''^0nly  the   intellect   armed 

The  study  of  the  speech  of  infancy,  then,  is  one  source  from  which,  in 
the  opinion  of  Professor  Jespersen,  light  may  be  expected  on  the  problem 
of  the  origin  and  development  of  human  language. 

It  seems  likely  that  a  still  richer  field  would  develop  in  a  study  of  the 
influence  of  the  speech  of  infancy  and  early  childhood  in  modifying  exist- 
ing tongues,  in  creating  new  dialects,  and  even  new  tongues.  As  one 
considers  the  speech  formations  of  babies  and  little  children,  one  cannot 
but  think  that  infant  speech  must  have  made  in  all  times  immense  contri- 
butions to  existing  tongues,  and  also  that  it  must  have  been  a  powerful 
factor  in  creating  new  languages.  So  far  as  I  know,  philologists  have  not 
taken  as  full  account  of  this  factor  as  its  importance  would  seem  to 
warrant 


LANGUAGE  28 1 

with  the  ripest  modern  scholarship  can  grapple  with  the 
questions  relating  to  the  origin  of  man,  what  the  progenitor 
of  man  was  like  and  what  he  did  ;  or  can  hold  in  its  grasp 
the  incidents  in  the  drama  of  humanity  rising  out  of  animality ; 
or  even  what  primitive  man  was  like,  what  sorts  of  ideas, 
fancies,  feelings,  emotional  states,  desires,  aversions,  purposes, 
made  up  his  mental  life.  The  question  of  the  origin  of  human 
speech  will  be  rescued  from  what  Professor  Whitney  called  its 
**bad  repute"  when  such  an  intellect  possessing  such  a  train- 
ing addresses  itself  to  the  question.  Our  problem  in  this 
chapter  is  the  very  modest  one  of  indicating  some  '  of  the 
principal  stages  of  speech  development  in  an  individual  child, 
and  of  illustrating  the  chief  features  of  each  stage,  and  to  that 
task  we  may  now  proceed. 

STAGES   IN   THE   SPEECH    LEARNING   PROCESS 

The  process  of  learning  to  use  the  native  tongue  may 
be  divided,  for  purposes  of  convenience  in  description, 
into  the  following  periods  or  stages  :  (i)  reflexive  crying, 

(2)  crying   expressive  of    various    sorts  pf    discomfort, 

(3)  definite  expressions  for  feelings  of  comfort  and  dis- 
comfort, (4)  the  understanding  of  soothing,  caressing 
sounds  and  harsh,  scolding  sounds,  (5)  crowing  and 
pre-linguistic  babbling,  (6)  the  association  of  words 
heard  with  definite  objects,  events,  or  situations,  (7)  the 
association  between  statements  and  requests  of  others 
and  definite  actions  in  response  on  the  child's  part,  (8) 
attempts  upon  request  to  repeat  the  expressions  of 
others  —  the  beginnings  of  imitative  speech,  (9)  the 
uniform    use  of  sounds   and  words   to   express  wishes. 


282  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

feelings,  facts  or  ideas,  (lo)  naming  things  seen  or  heard, 
(ii)  spontaneous  imitation,  (12)  understanding  and  re- 
plies to  questions,  (13)  exclamations,  remarks,  observa- 
tions, statements,  being  a  further  development  of  the 
speech  activity  dQscrit)ed  in  (9)  above,  (14)  the  ques- 
tioning  period. 

It  will  be  understood,  of  course,  that  there  are  no 
sharp  lines  of  demarcation  between  these  stages.  All 
that  is  meant  is  that  certain  speech  activities  are  new, 
characteristic  of,  and  prominent  in  a  given  stage  or 
period.  Indeed,  the  general  principle  of  the  gradual 
transition  from  one  stage  to  another,  of  no  sudden  leaps 
or  breaks  in  the  general  process  of  growth  and  develop- 
ment finds  no  better  illustration  than  in  the  speech 
learning  process.  Not  only  is  there  a  very  gradual 
transition  from  one  stage  to  another,  but  very  many  of 
the  activities  of  early  stages  persist  and  are  found  in  the 
later  stages,  and  very  often  sporadic  instances,  or  faint 
suggestions  of  later  activities  are  observable  in  the  early 
stages.  And  yet,  for  purposes  of  description,  it  is  con- 
venient to  mark  the  process  into  stages. 

(i)  Reflexive  crying.  —  The  beginnings  of  language 
are  usually  traced  to  the  reflex  crying  of  the  newly  born 
babe.  Preyer  likens  these  early  cries  to  the  peeping  of 
a  chick  that  is  breaking  its  shell,  or  the  bleating  of  the 
newly  born  lamb,  and  observes  that  they  have  no  more 
intellectual  or  emotional  significance  than  the  first  cries 


LANGUAGE  283 

of  these  animals.  They  are  produced  as  well  by  a  child 
without  a  cerebrum  as  by  a  child  with  one.  The  basal 
ganglia  and  the  appropriate  stimulus  are  all  that  are 
necessary  on  the  neural  side  for  their  production.  These 
first  cries,  then,  have  no  conscious  value  except  possibly 
in  the  bodily  reverberation,  the  kinaesthetic  sensations 
accompanying  the  physical  activity  of  crying.  What  one 
means  then  by  saying  that  language  has  its  beginnings 
in  these  first  reflexive  cries  is  that  much  of  the  physical 
apparatus  which  is  used  in  later  speech  activities  is 
involved  in  the  early  reflexive  cries.  The  vocal  cords, 
the  organs  of  respiration,  the  muscles  of  the  throat  and 
tongue  get  a  sort  of  strengthening  and  exercise  which 
are  valuable  in  subsequent  speech  efforts. 

We  shall  not  go  into  the  question,  why  the  newly  born 
babe  performs  the  particular  activity  which  we  call 
"  crying,"  rather  than  some  other,  crowing  or  laughing, 
for  example,  or  why  he  makes  any  vocal  sound  at  all. 
All  sorts  of  reasons,  poetic,  scientific,  and  theological 
have  been  suggested.  It  is  sufficient  for  our  present 
purpose,  perhaps,  to  remember  that  the  crying  of  the 

infant  just  born  is   occasioned  by  the   physical   shock 

• 

of  his  new  surroundings,  the  inrmsh  of  air  to  the 
lungs,  and  that  crying  is  a  reflex  likj  sucking  and 
clasping  with  the  fingers.  The  first  vocal  utterance 
then  is  a  cry.  First  a  sort  of  sniffle,  a  moment  of  slow 
wriggling,  an  uneasy  stretching  and  bending  of  arms  and 


284  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

legs,  like  one  aroused  from  deep  sleep,  then  the  sound 
called  crying  sometimes  lustily,  sometimes  feebly.  Ob- 
servers agree  that  the  first  cry  '«  usually  a  short  a,  long 
drawn  out,  and  having  a  sli^^u  twanf  o"  nasal  sound.  * 
(I  have  heard  bab^s  of  six  months  gcsia^  .^n  utter  a 
feeble  cry  more  Hke  e  which  probably  requires  less  mus- 
cular exertion,  less  muscular  tension  than  the  short  a 
which  is  uttered  by  the  more  vigorous  nine  months  baby.) 
(2)  Differentiation  of  crying  in  discomfort.  —  The  mo- 
notonous reflexive  crying,  described  in  the  preceding 
paragraphs,  which  serves  to  express  the  general  condi- 
tion of  discomfort  soon  gives  way  to  cries  which  vary 
with  the  kind  of  discomfort  the  child  is  experiencing. 
The  cries  soon  come  to  have  expressional  value.  They 
differ  in  pitch,  duration,  timber  as  the  mood  or  feeling  of 
the  child  varies.^  Physicians  and  trained  nurses  soon 
learn  to  distinguish  among  the  .meanings  of  the  cries  of 
babies  a  few  weeks  old.  The  cry  of  pain  is  high  and 
piercing,  an  uncomfortable  position  occasions  only  whim- 
pering. Hunger  has  its  peculiar  expressive  cry,  so  have 
the  sensations  of  cold,  wetness,  and  uncomfortable  cloth- 


1  For  a  valuable  theoiretical  exposition  of  the  mechanism  of  the  early 
speech  activities  on  the  neural  side,  see  Collins,  The  Faculty  of  Speech^ 
Chap.  III.  A 

2  In  this  connection,  one  thinks  of  Darwin's  description  {^Descent  of 
Man,  Chap.  II)  of  the  different  kinds  of  cries  or  barks  by  which  the  dog 
expresses  his  various  feelings.  There  are  barks  of  eagerness,  as  in  the 
chase ;  of  anger,  of  despair,  of  joy,  of  demand  or  supplication. 


LANGUAGE  285 

ing.  These  are  th*e  earliest  differentiations  of  the  reflexive 
cries  of  the  first  period.  Here  belong  also  the  cries 
caused  by  unpleasant  3tes  and  smells.  For  example, 
the  child  R.  mac."-' an  outcry  and  whimpered  when  on  tlie 
forty-sixth  day  he  got  a  whiff  of  liniment. 

In  this  period  whatever  of  comfort  the  child  may  experi- 
ence is  not  expressed  by  vocal  utterance,  but  by  a  pleased 
or  calm  facial  expression.  The  baby's  ability  to  express 
its  discomforts  is  far  in  excess  of  its  power  to  express 
whatever  joy  and  happiness  it  may  feel.  And  this  rela- 
tive superiority  of  the  mechanism  for  expressing  discom- 
fort continues,  for  most  persons,  throughout  life. 

(3)  Expressions  of  comfort  —  The  third  stage  is  char- 
acterized by  the  appearance  of  expressions  of  comfort,  a 
sort  of  cooing,  the  utterance  of  a  happy  mood  when  the 
baby  is  lying  comfortably,  rolling  about  in  his  crib,  mov- 
ing his  arms  and  legs.  In  this  period  the  vowel  sounds 
are  predominant.  For  example,  the  child  R.  was  .observed 
on  the  eighth  day  of  the  second  month  rolling  about  and 
uttering  the  sound  "  I-E  "  over  and  over.^ 

'  Every  observer  of  the  speech  of  babies  and  of  little  children  knows 
that  it  is  impossible  to  print  signs  which  represent  accurately  the  inflec- 
tions, the  cadences,  the  timber,  the  notes  of  desire,  of  fear,  timidity,  of 
assent  and  dissent,  of  expectation,  surprise,  anxiety,  and  of  protest,  so 
abundant  and  rich  in  early  speech.  Ajj  the  greater  part,  the  reader  must 
draw  from  what  he  knows  of  baby.talk  in  order  to  get  the  meaning  out 
of  any  attempt  to  represent  baby  babblings  or  talk  in  print.  Some  aid  is 
given,  however,  by  the  use  of  diacritical  marks,  and  they  will  be  employed 
in  this  section  whenever  it  is  thought  they  will  help  in  telling  how  a  word. 


286  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL   GROWTH 

(4)  Soothing  and  harsh  sounds  distinguished.  —  An- 
other phase  of  the  language  learning  process  is  the  ability 
of  the  child  to  distinguish  between  the  soothing,  caress- 
ing speech  of  the  nurse,  or  others,  and  harsh,  scolding 
sounds.  The  caressing~soiinds  get  their  meaning  perhaps 
from  being  frequently  associated  with  gentle  and  tender 
handling,  and  harsh  sounds  come  to .  have  a  certain  re- 
sponse because  associated  with  rough,  or  indifferently 
gentle  handling,  and  not  because  in  either  case  the  dis- 
tinction is  untaught  and  instinctive,  although,  as  we  saw 
when  discussing  Fear,  loud  and  strange  noises  often  cause 
discomfort  in  early  infancy.  If  a  child  were  accustomed 
to  hearing  soft  words  and  being  beaten  at  the  same  time, 
such  words  would  soon  come  to  arouse  fear  and  trembling. 
If,  on  the  other  hand,  gentle  and  caressing  treatment  were 
associated  in  the  experience  of  the  child  with  harsh 
sounds,  the  latter  would  soon  come  to  be  soothing  and 
quieting.* 

(5)  Crowing  and  pre- linguistic  babbling.  —  Stage 
three,  the  stage  of  vowel  babbling  in  comfort,  passes 

or  syllable  spoken  by  the  child  sounded.  As  a  rule  the  correct  spelling 
of  the  word  in  English  has  been  retained,  but  in  some  cases  some  liberty 
has  been  taken  when  it  seemed  likely  that  by  that  means  a  better  repre- 
sentation of  the  child's  speech  could  be  made.  The  system  of  diacritical 
marks  employed  in  these  Studies  i|(»ased  upon  the  one  used  in  Webster's 
Dictionaries. 

^  For  interesting  discussion  of  the  question  whether  infants  instinctively 
know  the  meaning  of  different  emotional  expressions,  see  Darwin  Ex- 
pression of  Emotions  in  Man  and  Animals ^  Ch.  XIV,  p.  358f. 


LANGUAGE,  287 

gradually  into  the  babbling  stage  proper  which  is 
strongly  marked  by  countless,  meaningless  syllables  ut- 
tered mainly  when  the  child  is  in  a  cheerful  frame  of 
mind,  though  sometimes  one  hears  them  when  the  child 
is  fretful. 

Observers  have  not  overlooked  the  importance  or  sig- 
nificance of  this  period.  Sully  calls  it  variously,  «'  the 
period  of  voice  play  and  rehearsal,"  '*  preliminary  prac- 
tice," of  "  undesigned  trying  of  the  articulate  instrument "  ; 
and  Preyer  maintains  that  for  all  healthy  children  the 
greatly  preponderating  majority  of  the  sounds  the  child 
makes  use  of  after  learning  verbal  language,  and  many 
other  sounds  besides  these,  are  correctly  formed  within 
the  first  eight  months,  not  intentionally,  but  at  random.^ 
Mrs.  Moore  was  of  the  opinion  that,  "  at  the  close  of  the 
fourth  month  her  child  had  made  well-nigh  all  the  sounds 
that  occur  in  the  language."^  Certain  it  is  that  when 
viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  subsequent  speech  devel- 
opment, the  babbling  process  or  period  has  all  the  appear- 
ance of  getting  together  a  mass  of  raw  material  which  is 
to  be  put  into  intelligible  and  significant  forms  later  when 
the  building  process  proper  begins  ;  or  when,  to  use  one 
of  Sully's  figures,  "  the   speech  protoplasm  begins  to  dif- 

*  op.  clt.y  Part  II,  p.  76.  Preyer  places  the  early  movements  of  the 
muscles  of  the  larynx,  mouth,  and  tongue,  which  give  us  the  vast  variety 
of  vocal  sounds,  in  the  same  class  with  the  other  innumerable,  superfluous, 
unintentional,  random,  muscular  movements  of  the  infant. 

«0/.  «V.,p.  115. 


288  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

ferentiate  and  to  assume  definite  forms."  But  we  must 
not  get  lost  in  metaphors :  the  simple,  plain  statement  is 
that  during  this  period  the  child  utters  countless  syllables, 
and  probably  one  or  more  of  every  sound  he  will  ever  use 
in  speaking  his  native^feongue.  And  it  is  not  difficult  to 
detect  in  this  preliminary  stage  a  great  many  sounds  for 
which  he  will  never  have  any  use,  unless  he  should  learn 
a  number  of  foreign  tongues. 

If  we  were  to  assign  a  time  to  the  babbling  period  it 
would  be  the  second  half  of  the  first  year  and  the  first 
quarter  of  the  second  year,  the  latter  part  of  the  period 
being  richest,  as  a  rule,  in  the  number  and  variety  of 
sounds  uttered.  Of  course,  babbhng  continues  through- 
out the  second  year,  and  even  into  the  third,  if  one  may 
think  of  the  crude  attempts  at  singing  or  humming  as  a 
sort  of  revival  or  survival  in  rhythmical  character  of  the 
early  babbling.^ 

(6)  The  association  of  words  heard  with  definite  objects y 
events,  and  situations.  —  Under  this  heading  will  be  re- 
ported illustrations  of  early  associations  between  objects 
and  their  names  when  spoken  by  members  of  the  house- 
hold.    A  child  can  be  led  somewhat  earher,  and  much 

1  Two  kinds'  of  babbling  rnay  be  distinguished :  one  which  seems  spon- 
taneous and  purposeless ;  the  other  which  appears  later,  and  in  which 
there  seems  to  be  more  effort,  more  will,  more  of  the  child's  self.  In  the 
second,  the  child  seems  to  be  aware  of  what  he  is  doing,  and  does  it  half 
intentionally;  we  say  he  is  "talking,"  or  frying  to  talk  to  his  toys, 
playthings,  and  his  companions. 


LANGUAGE  289 

more  easily  to  form  associations  between  spoken  words 
and  objects  than  he  can  be  induced  to  try  to  repeat  words 
spoken  to  him,  and  these  associations  can  be  formed 
weeks  before  they  would  arise  without  teaching.  Preyer 
quotes  the  remarkable  case  of  Linder's  child  forming  an 
association  between  the  word  "  tick-tock  "  and  the  clock 
at  the  age  of  eighteen  weeks.^  In  the  complete  account, 
it  appears  that  the  tick-tock  association  was  formed 
under  very  favorable  circumstances.  The  child  was  ab- 
sorbed in  looking  at  the  clock  when  the  father  appeared 
on  the  scene  and  carried  the  child  to  the  clock  at  the 
same  time  speaking  the  word  "  tick-tock."  Probably  the 
association  was  between  the  word  "  tick-tock  "  and  the 
memory  of  having  been  carried  to  a  certain  object ;  the 
sound  of  the  word  revived  in  the  child's  mind  the  former 
image  or  experience,  rather  than  an  image  of  the  particu- 
lar object  —  clock.  The  sound  "tick-tock"  was  merely 
one  element  in  a  block  of  experience  in  which  the 
image  of  the  clock  was  another  factor  or  link.  The  same 
child  at  the  end  of  the  seventh  month  answered  correctly 
by  pointing  when  asked,  where  is  your  eye  ?  ear  ?  head  ? 
mouth  ?  nose  ?  In  the  list  of  associations  just  named, 
it  is  likely  that  they  were  formed  only  after  much  drill 


^  op.  cit..  Part  II,  p.  69f.  The  case  is  quoted  by  Preyer  to  illustrate 
the  fact  that  understanding  often  runs  far  ahead  of  the  first  imitative 
speech,  the  Linder  child  not  making  any  attempt  to  imitate  words  heard 
until  the  tenth  month. 


290  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

and  repetition.  Similar  to  the  case  quoted  from  Linder, 
are  those  Preyer  quotes  from  Sigismund,  Striimpell,  and 
Darwin.^  Sigismund  relates  that  long  before  his  child 
tried  to  imitate  words  or  gestures,  namely,  at  the  age  of 
nine  months,  he  distirlg{iished  accurately  the  words 
"  father,"  "  mother,"  "  Hght,"  "  window,"  "  moon,"  *'  lane," 
for  he  looked  or  pointed  at  the  object  designated,  as  soon 
as  one  of  these  words  was  spoken.  Striimpell's  daughter, 
in  her  eighth  month,  understood  the  question,  where  is 
the  tick-tock?  and  Darwin  reported  that  at  seven 
months,  his  boy  associated  his  nurse  with  her  name  so 
that  when  it  was  called  out  he  would  look  around  for  her. 
Miss  Shinn  states  that,  "  at  eleven  months  her  niece's 
understanding  of  speech  had  grown  wonderfully  —  she 
knew  fifty-one  names  of  people  and  things  ;  twenty-eight 
action  words ;  —  and  a  few  adverbial  expressions  like 
*  where,'  and  '  all  gone,'  eighty-four  words  in  all,  securely 
associated  with  ideas."  » 

My  own  notes  relating  to  the  earliest  instances  of  as- 
sociation between  words  heard  and  particular  objects,  state 
that  the  first  association  noted  was  between  the  word 
"  street-car,"  and  that  object  (fifty-first  week).  In  order 
to  entertain  R.,  he  was  frequently  taken  to  a  window 
from  which  passing  cars,  often  brilliantly  Hghted,  could 
be  seen.     The  sight  always  greatly  pleased  him,  and 

»  Op,  it..  Part  II,  p.  222ff. 


LANGUAGE  29I 

after  he  was  able,  he  would  stand  at  the  window  by  the 
half  hour,  watching  the  passing  cars.  Of  course,  while 
looking  at  the  cars  he  often  heard  the  word  "  car,"  and  so 
was  formed  one  of  the  earhest  verbal  associations.  About 
the  same  time,  the  word  "  birdie  "  was  associated  with  a 
canary  bird  which  he  saw  often,  and  which  he  enjoyed 
watching  as  it  sang  or  flitted  about  its  cage.  In  the  fifty- 
second  week  it  was  noticed  that  he  would  begin  to  look 
around  for  the  ball  when  the  word  "  ball "  was  spoken  to 
him. 

(7)  The  association  between  statements  and  requests  of 
others  and  definite  actions  in  response  on  the  child's  part} 
—  This  class  of  associations  may  be  illustrated  by  refer- 
ence to  the  associations  which  R.  formed  early  in  the  sec- 
ond year  between  hearing  the  expressions  "  warm  your 
hands,"  "  say  '  bye  bye/  "  "  brush  your  hair  "  and  definite 
actions  in  response  on  his  part.  Thus  when  one  said  to 
the  child,  *'  warm  your  hands,"  he  would  hold  them  out 
as  if  warming  them.  In  each  of  these  associations,  the 
appropriate  movement  in  response  had  been  taught  the 
child  by  putting  him  through  the  movement  at  the  same 

»  Preyer  observes  that  this  is  the  last  of  the  "  animal "  stages  of  develop- 
ment on  the  language  side.  By  the  close  of  the  first  year,  the  child  is  on  a 
higher  plane  mentally  than  a  very  intelligent  animal,  "  but  not  on  account 
of  his  knowledge  of  language,"  The  baby  that  responds  correctly  to  a 
few  words  or  sounds  is  not  far  in  advance  of  the  horse  that  reacts  in  a 
uniform  way  to  « whoa,"  « gee,"  "  haw,"  or  the  dog  that  responds  to 
«« give,"  "  come,"  "  steady." 


292  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

time  the  words  were  spoken.  For  example,  while  hold- 
ing the  child  one  would  say  "  warm  your  hands,"  at  the 
same  time  holding  his  hands  toward  the  fire.  That 
the  child  failed  to  comprehend  the  full  meaning  of  the 
words  spoken  to  him  became~clear  when  it  was  found  that 
he  held  out  his  hands  upon  hearing  the  words,  no  matter 
whether  he  was  near  a  fire  or  not. 

It  should  be  said  that  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the 
child,  at  this  early  stage,  hears  expressions  or  requests,  like 
those  just  named,  as  wholes  made  up  of  a  given  number  of 
parts.  At  this  time,  there  is  little  or  no  discrimination 
of  parts  of  the  wholes  heard.  An  expression  or  request 
is  merely  a  volume  of  sound  in  which  some  one  or  two 
factors  or  notes  stand  out  distinctly  enough  to  get  asso- 
ciated with  a  fairly  definite  piece  of  conduct  on  the  child's 
part.  Thus,  when  one  says  to  the  child,  "  brush  your 
hair,"  we  are  not  to  think  that  the  child  hears  three 
distinct  sounds,  and  only  the  least  reflecting  person  sup- 
poses that  the  child  hears  three  distinct  words — brush- 
your-hair  —  that  is,  understands  the  meaning  of  each  of 
the  three  words  included  in  the  request.  What  exactly 
the  child's  mental  processes  are  when  he  hears  requests 
Hke  those  just  quoted,  and  then  proceeds  to  comply  with 
them  is  a  matter  to  be  determined  in  each  individual  case. 
But  in  most  instances  it  is  safe  to  conjecture  that  it  is  the 
peculiar  inflection,  cadencing,  and  points  of  emphasis, 
which  give  the  child  the  cue  to,  the  suggestion  of  the  ap- 


LANGUAGE  293 

propriate  action  on  his  part.  In  other  instances,  the  cue 
is  some  single  sound  in  the  complex  which  makes  up  the 
entire  expression.  Some  sound  in  the  total  stands  out 
and  is  associated  with  a  particular  action  on  the  part  of 
the  child. 

(8)  The  beginjtings  of  imitative  speech.  —  According 
to  the  outline  of  the  general  order  of  speech  development 
set  forth  above,  links  of  association  are  formed  between 
words  heard  and  certain  objects,  actions,  or  occurrences 
before  the  child  shows  any  tendency  to  repeat,  of  his  own 
accord,  the  expressions  of  others.  Understanding  the 
speech  of  others  appears,  ordinarily,  before'  attempts  to 
repeat  it,  and  this  is  as.  one  would  expect.  It  seems  on 
its  face  a  simpler  process.  It  is  also  easier  to  force  pre- 
mature understanding  of  spoken  language  than  prema- 
ture imitation  of  others'  speech.  Early  imitative  speech 
is  very  capricious :  it  appears  in  the  life  of  a  given  child 
when  it  gets  ready,  and  not  a  whit  sooner.  And  yet  it 
should  be  said  that  whether  a  child  begins  to  understand 
spoken  words  before  he  begins  to  imitate  them  depends 
somewhat  upon  the  efforts  of  those  in  charge  of  the  child. 
By  persistent  efforts,  one  can  get  a  child  to  try  to  repeat 
words  and  syllables  long  before  they  mean  anything  to 
him,  and  long  before  he  would  make  the  attempt  of  his 
own  motion.  So  in  considering  early  speech  imitation, 
it  is  well  to  inquire  what  is  meant  when  it  is  said  — 
a  child  imitated  so  and  so,  at  such  and  such  a  time ;  that 


294  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

is,  was  the  imitation  spontaneous  or  was  it  drawn  out  by 
the  efforts  of  others  ?  To  illustrate,  Sigismund  says  that 
his  boy  did  not,  of  his  own  accord,  imitate  any  sounds 
until  after  the  fourteenth  month,  but  imitation  upon  the 
request  of  others  occurred  threemonths  earher.  In  my 
owh  experiments,  I  tried  at  different  times  in  R.'s  tenth 
month  to  get  him  to  repeat  after  me  such  syllables  as  ba, 
da,  pa,  all  of  which  he  uttered  frequently  in  his  babbhng 
moods.  On  the  292d  day  I  got  feeble  responses,  half 
whispered  and  barely  audible.  At  three  different  hours 
of  the  296th  day,  I  tried  to  get  the  child  to  repeat  after 
me  the  syllables  just  named,  and  the  results  in  every  in- 
stance were  such  that  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  the 
child  did  repeat,  imperfectly  to  be  sure,^  the  syllables 
which    I   had   spoken    for   him.^ 

(9)  The  use  of  sounds  and  words  to  express  wishes 
and  ideas.  —  Very  often  before  the  end  of  the  first  year 
the  child  uses  uniformly  a  small  number  of  sounds  or 

1  The  first  imitations,  whether  suggested  or  spontaneous,  of  others' 
speech  are,  as  Sully  says,  "  rather  of  tone,  rise  and  fall  of  voice,  and  ap- 
portioning of  stress  or  accent  than  of  articulate  quality." 

'  It  is  of  interest  to  note  in  this  connection  that  R.  imitated  certain  bodily 
movements  like  nodding  the  head,  jumping  up  and  down  with  the  body 
as  one  sits,  and  shaking  a  paper,  before  he  would  imitate  vocal  and  throat 
sounds.  The  more  interesting  since  it  is  observed  that  some  children 
imitate  sounds  before  they  do  bodily  movements.  For  example,  I  ob- 
served that  the  child  J.  repeated  after  me  a  sound  like  the  barking  of  a 
fox-squirrel  and  also  syllables  like  da  and  a  before  he  would  try  to  repeat 
bodily  movements  like  shaking  the  hand,  or  nodding  the  head  though  I 
tried  often  to  call  forth  these  movements  by  making  them  for  him. 


LANGUAGE  295 

words  to  express  wishes,  facts  and  ideas.  Miss  Shinn's 
niece,  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  month,  said,  •'  da  "  when 
pointing  out  or  admiring  an  object ;  "  nanana  "  as  ex- 
pressive of  refusal  and  protest ;  "  mom  mom  mom  "  to 
express  a  particular  wish ;  and  "  gong  "  to  express  the 
fact  of  disappearance,  absence,  failure,  denial,  etc. 
Preyer  relates  that  at  the  close  of  the  eleventh  month,  his 
boy  had  formed  an  association  between  the  expressions 
"  atta,"  or  "  hatta  "  or  "  hatai  "  or  "  hodda,"  and  the  idea 
of  disappearance.  That  is,  when  something  disappeared 
the  child  said,  "atta"  or  "hatta"  or  *•  hatik "  or 
"  hodda,"  and  at  the  close  of  the  first  year  the  Preyer 
child  expressed  eager  desire  by, "  a-manananana."  ^  Mrs. 
Moore  states  that  in  the  forty-second  week  her  child  used 
the  words, "  mamma,  nin  nin  "  to  express  his  desire  to  be 
fed  ;  also  that,  soon  after,  "  papa  "  became  a  proper  name 
for  a  particular  individual.  ^  It  will  be  noted,  in  the  cases 
of  these  three  children,  that  only  a  few  expressions  were 
used  with  uniform  designation  before  the  end  of  the  first 
year,  although,  generally  speaking,  the  speech  develop- 
ment of  the  three  children  was  precocious.  One  notices 
also  that  their  expressions  or  utterances,  even  when  used 
with  apparent  purposiveness,  were  more  of  the  nature 
of  exclamations  —  the  expression  of  a  mood,  than  dis- 
tinct, articulate  expressions  of  wishes,  ideas,  facts,  or  ob- 
servations. 

1  Op.  cit.t  Part  II,  p.  i ii  f.  «  Op.  cit.^  p.  I3I. 


296  FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENT  IH 

The  stage  we  have  just  discussed  brings  us  to  the  point 
in  language  development  which  the  average  child  reaches 
during  the  first  year.  When  one  considers  the. range  and 
character  of  the  linguistic  attainments  of  the  one  year  old 
child,  one  finds,  (i)  that  he  isJn-4:he  high  tide  of  the  bab- 
bling period,  that  babbling  is  easily  the  dominant  speech 
activity.  (2)  The  child  is  acquiring  greater  facility  all 
the  while  in  articulating  difficult  syllables.  For  exam- 
ple, we  find  him  uttering  the  difficult  "  th  "  as  an  initial 
sound.  (3)  Expressions  consisting  of  two  syllables  are 
frequent,  the  rule  in  fact,  and  expressions  of  three  sylla- 
bles are  sometimes  heard.  (4)  We  find  also  that  the 
child  is  beginning  to  understand  much  that  is  spoken  to 
him,  especially,  simple  requests  like  "  go  to  sleep,"  "  let 
me  hear  the  tick-tock,"  and  others  quoted  in  a  former 
paragraph.  The  meaning  of  these  requests  had  been 
learned  in  connection  with  certain  movements ;  or  rather 
the  appropriate  movements  had  been  taught  in  connec- 
tion with  the  verbal  expressions,  sometimes  by  actively 
directing  the  child's  movements,  much  as  the  animal 
trainer  takes  his  subjects  through  the  trick  according  to 
a  system  of  dgnals.  ^  (5)  It  is  found  also  that  a  number 
of  objects  are  firmly  associated  with  the  sound  of  their 

1  For  discussion  of  the  possibility  and  limitations  of  teaching  animals 
tricks  by  putting  the  animals  through  them,  see  Thorndike,  Animal 
Intelligence,  p.  yofF. ;  Monograph  Suppl.  to  Psych.  Rev.  N^o.  <?,  Vol.  II ; 
also  Pop.  Sci.  Mo.,  55,  p.  480.  See  also  Kline's  and  Small's  studies  of 
animal  intelligence,  Am,  Jr.  Psych.,  Vols.  X,  XI,  XII. 


LANGUAGE  297 

spoken  names.  Certain  articulate  sounds  are  linked  in 
the  child's  mind  with  certain  objects,  the  sound  of  the 
name  calls  up  it\  the  child's  mind  a  particular  mental 
image,  and  so  out  of  the  confusion  of  Babel  -n-  as  oral 
speech  is  to  the  child  at  first  —  distinctions  and  meanings 
are  beginning  to  appear;  sounds  are  coming  to  have 
character,  definite  meaning  and  objective  reference.  (6) 
The  child  is  beginning  to  imitate  mechanically  single 
words  said  for  him.  By  "  mechanical "  imitation  is 
meant  here  that  there  is  no  association  between  his  ut- 
terances and  ideas.  All  one  caA  say  is  that  when  certain 
words  or  syllables  are  spoken  with  clearness  and  emphasis, 
the  child  seems  to  try  to  repeat  them.  At  least,  he  utters 
sounds  which  are  rough  imitations  of  the  copy  set  for 
him.  From  this  time  forward  skill  in  reproducing  sounds 
heard  improves  rapidly.  (7)  The  speech  of  the  first 
year  may  be  described  as  spontaneous,  impulsive,  in- 
stinctive when  compared  with  the  intelligent  and  pur- 
posive speech  of  later  years.  The  child  utters  vocal 
sounds  just  as  spontaneously  as  he  flourishes  his  arms,  or 
grasps  at  attractive  objects.  The  speech  apparatus  is 
there  and  the  energy  of  the  child  sets  it  going.  So  one 
may  speak  of  speech  as  instinctive,  impulsive,  not  ac- 
quired —  in  the  sense  that  the  babe  utters,  without  sug- 
gestion of  a  copy  from  others,  and  almost  from  birth,  a 
great  variety  -of  sounds  and  syllables  to  express  his  vari- 
ous moods.     Likes  and  dislikes,  assent  and  dissent,  im- 


298  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

patience,  anger,  aversion,  surprise,  pleasurable  anticipa- 
tion, are  expressed  by  easily  understood,  untaught  sounds 
long  before  the  close  of  the  first  year. 

THE  DEVELOPMENTT)F  THE  SENTENCE 

The  development  of  the  sentence  is  a  phase  of  the 
speech  learning  process  that  has  attracted  a  good  deal 
of  attention  among  the  observers  of  child  language.  The 
earhest  forms  of  the  sentence,  the  rudiments  out  of  which 
the  sentence  proper  grows  are  those  crude,  half  articulate 
sounds  or  syllables  uttered  —  often  before  the  end  of  the 
first  year  —  to  indicate  a  wish  or  to  express  some  fact. 
To  the  first  class,  expressions  of  desire,  belong  vocal  ut- 
terances, e.  g.,  hi,  hi,  he,  hii,  eh,  and  the  Hke,  which  often 
accompany  early  reaching  for  things.  To  the  second  class, 
belong  the  atta,  hoeda,  hata  spoken  by  Preyer's  child  in 
the  eleventh  month  to  express  the  fact  of  disappearance ; 
for  example,  when  some  one  left  the  room,  when  the  light 
was  extinguished,  and  the  Hke.  Other  primitive  forms  of 
the  sentence  are  the  "  M-gm  "  or  "  Ng-gng  "  or  "  M-ga," 
and  the  "  Da  "  or  "  Dng  "  or  "  Did-da  "  used  by  Miss 
Shinn's  niece,  the  former  to  express  the  fact  of  disappear- 
ance, failure,  denial ;  and  the  second,  "  was  suspiciously 
often  enough  ejaculated  when  the  little  one  threw  out  her 
hand  in  pointing,  or  in  exulting  in  getting  to  her  feet  to 
suggest  a  faint  consistency  in  the  use  of  the  expression 
under  these  circumstances."     Similar  to  the  sounds  re- 


LANGUAGE  299 

ported  by  Miss  Shinn,  was  the  exclamation  "  eh  "  uttered 
by  the  child  J.,  when,  after  considerable  effort,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  getting  a  can-lid  to  stay  on  a  can,  or  after  get- 
ting a  pencil  to  stick  in  a  spool-hole  (twelfth  month). 
The  "  uh  "  spoken  by  J.  as  he  held  up  an  article  which  he 
wanted  some  one  to  take,  also  belonged  probably  to  the 
class  of  early  nature  sounds  which  children  use  to  ex- 
press their  desires  or  observations.  Different  in  origin, 
but  not  different  in  character,  are  the  first  crude,  indis- 
tinct, imitative  vocables  which  become  associated  with 
certain  actions  on  the  child's  part.  For  instance,  the 
child  J.'s  at,  act,  nat,  mack,  aga,  aka,  for  "  thank  you  "  — 
sometimes  one,  sometimes  another  and  often  barely  au- 
dible —  as  he  laid  a  pencil  or  other  article  in  one's  hand. 

To  such  humble  and  unpromising  beginnings  as  those 
described  in  the  preceding  paragraph^  we  must  look  if  we 
would  know  the  nature  of  the  earliest  vocal  expressions 
which  shadow  forth  the  completely  rounded  sentence  — 
the  majestic  utterctnces  of  the  lawgiver,  the  profound  de- 
liverances of  the  seer,  the  delicately  and  exquisitely 
moulded  creations  of  the  orator  or  poet. 

Following  fast  upon  the  sentence-sound  come  sentence- 
words,  single  words  used  to  name  things  perceived  or 
things  wanted.  For  example,  R.  exclaimed  "  babee  "  at 
the  sight  of  his  image  in  a  mirror  or  other  reflecting  sur- 
face ;  **  ti-tit  "  as  he  held  a  watch  to  his  ear  ;  "  ack  "  at 
the  sight  of  a  hat  he  wanted ;  "  baw  "  when  he  was  unable 


300  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

to  find  a  lost  ball.  The  next  step  consists  in  the  use  of 
the  same  word  to  express  a  variety  of  meanings  ;  some- 
times to  convey  facts  and  ideas  which  occur  to  the  child, 
sometimes  to  express  a  wish,  sometimes  to  command  — 
the  meaning  in  each  case  being  gathered  from  the  cir- 
cumstances, or,  as  Sully  observes,  "  from  the  intonation 
and  gesture."  For  example,  R.  used  "  dee "  to  mean 
"  sit  here,"  "  put  it  here,"  "  I  am  sitting  down,"  "  I  want 
to  get  down,"  "  put  it  on  a  lower  shelf  in  order  that  I  may 
be  able  to  get  it "  ;  and  "  hod  "  was  used  to  mean  "  the 
bread  is  hard,"  "  I  cannot  reach  it,"  "  the  book  is  heavy," 
*'  the  wheel  will  not  roll,"  "  make  a  drawing  of  a  big 
horse."  Preyer  illustrates  the  manifold  meanings  which  a 
single  word  may  have  by  reference  to  his  child's  use  of 
"  papa  "  to  mean,  (i)  come  play  with  me  ;  (2)  please  lift 
me  up  ;  (3)  please  give  me  that;  (4)  help  me  get  up  on 
the  chair ;  (5)  I  cannot,  and  so  on,  the  particular  meaning 
in  each  case  being  indicated  by  looks  and  gestures. 

It  is  curious  to  note  how,  at  this  stage,  the  child  clings 
to  single  words  to  express  his  ideas,  how  unwilling  he  is 
to  try  to  combine  two  words  into  a  single  expression  even 
when  one  sets  him  the  copy  made  up  of  two  words  which, 
he  uses  frequently,  one  at  a  time.  For  example,  R.  in  his 
twenty-first  month  used  both  "  moah "  and  "  wheat  " 
meaning  that  he  wanted  more  cereal.  But  he  would  not 
try  to  repeat  after  me  "  more  wheat "  though  the  copy ' 
was  set  for  him  a  number  of,  times  in  the  course  of  the 


LANGUAGE  301 

month.  Perhaps  it  was  not  wholly  the  child's  conscious- 
ness of  his  inability,  as  one  might  think  at  first  (ordi- 
narily he  was  willing  to  try  almost  any  combination  of 
syllables  which  was  suggested)  which  made  him  unwilling 
to  try  to  combine  the  two  words  ••  more  "  and  "  wheat," 
but  partly  the  fact  that  he  had  formed  the  habit  of  speak- 
ing the  words  separately  on  certain  particular  occasions, 
namely,  when  he  wanted  more  food.  Habit  was  stronger 
than  suggestion.  It  was  noted  also  that  for  several 
months  after  the  child  began  to  combine  words  into  sen- 
tences, the  single  sentence- words  were  retained  and  con- 
tinued as  prominent  features  of  his  speech.  The  older 
forms  lingered  long,  but  were  gradually,  and  finally  en- 
tirely displaced  by  the  newer  ones. 

It  is  a  notable  day  which  brings  the  first  sentence  of 
two  words.  As  a  rule  this  extraordinary  performance 
may  be  expected  in  the  latter  half  of  the  second  year, 
though  some  observers  name  earlier  dates  for  its  first  ap- 
pearance. In  this  matter,  as  in  many  others,  there  is 
great  variety  among  children. 

There  seems  to  be  no  rule  as  to  the  individual  charac- 
ter of  the  words  which  are  selected  for  these  early  com- 
binations, or  as  regards  the  relation  which  they  bear  to 
one  another.  Sometimes  the  words  are  a  noun  and  its 
modifier,  as  R.'s  "  bi  bij  "  (I  am  a  big  boy)  ;  sometimes  a 
noun  and  a  verb,  or  noun  and  adverb,  sometimes  two 
nouns  with  all  conceivable  cases,  and  meaning  all  sorts  of 


302  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

things,  even  things  which  would  require  for  full  and  com- 
plete expression  a  long,  complex  sentence  ;  or  even,  in 
some  mstances,  two  or  more  sentences.  For  example, 
the  first  two-worded  sentence  whk:h  Preyer's  child  spoke 
(haim,  mimi)  requires  for  full  expression  a  complex  sen- 
tence consisting  of  nine  English  words,  i.  e.,  "  I  would 
Uke  to  go  home  and  drink  milk."  And  the  child  R.'s 
"  wead  moom  "  meant,  '«  Please  read  some  more  about 
the  cow  jumping  over  the  moon,"  and**betie  Dat,"  "  I 
want  some  food  (betie)  to  give  to  Jack  "  (his  toy  horse). 

After  the  child  once  begins  to  combine  words  into 
sentences,  the  essential  additional  things  which  must  be 
mastered  before  he  can  speak  even  plain  English  are : 
(i)  he  must  learn  to  use  just  the  right  number  of  words ; 
enough,  but  not  too  many  ;  (2)  he  must  master  the  con- 
ventional order  of  words  in  the  English  sentence ;  (3) , 
the  intricacies  of  English  inflection  must  be  learned ; 
(4)  he  must  have  regard  for  the  distinctions  in  the  mean- 
ings of  pronominal  forms,  particularly,  the  personal  pro- 
nouns which  give  the  most  trouble,  as  a  rule ;  (5)  he 
must  learn  to  say  "  No  "  in  such  a  way  that  his  meaning 
will  not  be  mistaken ;  (6)  he  must  master  the  formula 
for  questions  ;  and  lastly,  and  perhaps  most  difficult  of 
all,  (7)  his  knowledge  of  the  meanings  of  the  words 
he   uses   must    grow  more  exact. 

Now  some  of  these  abilities  are  acquired  with  great 
ease  and  at  once,  without  going  through  a  long,  tedious 


LANGUAGE  303 

preliminary  practice.  For  example,  the  English  formula 
for  questions  seems  to  fit  precisely  the  questioning  state 
of  the  young  inquirer's  mind.  This  seemed  true,  at  any 
rate,  of  the  child  whom  I  have  studied  most.  His  first 
questions  were  as  correct,  grammatically,  as  they  were 
after  months  of  practice  in  questioning.  To  be  sure, 
there  were  irregularities  in  the  arrangement  of  the  words 
making  up  the  body  of  a  long  question ;  but  the  inter- 
rogative word  was  always  in  its  proper  place,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  sentence. 

On  the  other  hand,  mastery  of  diction  continues 
throughout  life  to  be  a  relative  matter.  It  is  an  art 
which  cannot  be  acquired  in  childhood.  But  the  child 
must  make  a  beginning.  At  first  he  gets  many  of  his 
words  confused.  "  Here "  is  used  when  he  means 
"  there  " ;  "  under,"  when  he  means  "  on  "  ;  "  same  " 
when  he  thinks  "  different,"  and  so  on.  It  goes  almost 
without  saying  that  in  order  to  speak  good  English,  the 
child  must  have  a  large  number  of  acceptable  words  at 
his  command,  and  he  must  be  able  to  use  them  with 
precision. 

In  the  paragraphs  which  follow,  the  first  five  require- 
ments enumerated  above  will  be  explained  more  fully. 

(i)  Number  of  words.  —  The  most  obvious  defect  of 
the  child's  early  sentences  is  that  they  do  not  contain 
enough  words.  The  child  is  unable  at  first  to  marshal 
more  than   two  words  at  a  time,  and  these,  if  uttered 


304  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

without  "  characteristic  intonation  and  accompanying 
gesture,"  convey,  in  many  instances,  but  Httle  meaning, 
and  are  very  puzzling  to  his  hearers. 

It  is  a  matter  of  some  interest  tO/observe  the  law  or 
principle  which  determines  the  selection  and  omission  of 
words  in  a  given  series  of  these  primitive  sentences.  To 
be  sure,  some  words  are  never  selected  for  the  simple  rea- 
son that  they  are  not  in  the  child's  vocabulary.  But, 
limitations  of  vocabulary  aside,  the  explanation  of  the 
laconic  nature  of  the  child's  early  utterances  is 
found  in  the  fact  that  the  child's  first  speech,  like  his 
mental  processes,  is  a  marvel  of  appropriateness  and 
directness.  If  one  selects  twenty-five  or  thirty  of  a 
child's  word  combinations  and  compares  them  with 
his  entire  vocabulary,  one  is  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  the  child  wastes  little  of  his  scanty  resources,  and 
that  his  speech  goes  with  remarkable  precision  to  the 
essential  features  of  a  given  situation.  As  one  looks 
through  these  primitive  sentences,  knowing  at  the  same 
time  the  child's  meanings,  purposes,  wishes  and  so  on, 
one  sees  at  once  that  the  child  makes,  as  a  rule,  the 
best  possible  selection  from  the  words  at  his  command 
to  express  his  mental  states.  The  explanation  of  this 
is  clear,  if  it  is  remembered  that  the  apex  of  the  situ- 
ation, the  most  vivid,  the  most  intense  part  of  the 
mental  content  of  a  given  moment  selects  its  appro- 
priate   verbal    associate,   or   verbal    expression.      Each 


LANGUAGE  305 

vivid  idea  selects  inevitably,  within  the  limits  of  a  small 
vocabulary,  the    best  combination  for  its  expression. 

These  principles  may  be  illustrated  from  R.'s  early 
sentence  forms.  In  the  last  weeks  of  the  second  year, 
the  child  was  greatly  pleased  by  one's  reading  the 
Mother  Goose  jingle  containing  the  words  ♦*  the  cow 
jumped  over  the  moon,"  and  he  always  called  for  the 
verse  by  crying,  "  wead  moom."  That  is,  from  the  score 
and  a  half  of  words  composing  the  verse,  the  word 
"  moon  "  was  selected  ;  first,  because  most  of  the  other 
words  were,  at  that  time,  strange  to  him,  and  he  rarely 
used  any  of  them  ;  but  mainly  for  the  reason  that,  at 
that  time,  the  moon  was  an  object  of  great  interest, 
and  so  immediately  sprang  to  the  center  of  consciousness 
upon  hearing  the  verse,  and,  in  accordance  with  the 
principle  stated  above,  controlled  the  verbal  expression. 
The  same  factors  controlled  his  exclamation,  or  com- 
mand, "  no  wog,  fouh,"  upon  observing  that  a  top  would 
not  spin  on  the  rug  (wog),  but  would  run  well  on  the 
bare  floor  (fouh).  And  again,  in  the  expressions  "  faw 
Dat  "  when  he  was  afraid  a  toy  horse  (Dat)  would  fall  ofif 
the  table,  and  in  "  buddah  batie,"  meaning,  "  this  blanket 
belongs  to  brother."  Thus  it  appears  that  there  are  two 
principles  or  factors  which  determine  the  composition 
of  the  child's  first  sentences  :  (i)  the  contents  of  the 
child's  vocabulary;  (2)  the  points  or  ideas  which  im- 
press him  most  vividly. 


306  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

(2)  Order  of  words.  —  The  order  of  words  in  R.'s  first 
sentences,  while  sometimes  topsy-turvy,  if  measured  by 
English  standards,  was,  speaking  generally,  the  same  as 
in  adult  speech,  showing,  no  doubt,  tl>t  influence  of  the 
speech  of  others.  And  in  almost  every  case  in  which 
he  changed  the  usual  order,  it  would  be  difficult  to  say 
that  the  child's  arrangement  was  illogical  or  equivocal. 
Who  will  say,  for  example,  that  "  brother  is  kicking  " 
and  "  the  ball  is  gone "  are  more  logical  constructions 
than  "  kick  buddah  "  and  "  aga  baw  "  ? 

The  exceptions  to  the  general  rule  that  the  order  of 
words  followed  in  a  general  way  the  usage  of  his  adult 
companions  occurred  when  the  child  was  in  mental  excite- 
ment of  some  sort ;  for  example,  in  great  eagerness  about 
some  of  his  plans.  On  these  occasions,  usage,  the  influ- 
ence of  example,  habit,  all  lost  theh-  influence,  and  he  mixed 
the  components  of  his  sentences  in  every  possible  way. 
For  example,  on  one  occasion  (twenty- fifth  month) 
he  was  very  anxious  that  his.  brother's  doll  should  have 
something  to  eat,  expressing  his  desire  first  by, "  buddah 
doi  betie "  (food).  Then  when  the  food  was  not  forth- 
coming at  once,  he  began  to  dance  and  cry,  "  doi  betie," 
"  betie  buddah  doi,"  "  doi  buddah  "  and  so  on.  Another 
striking  instance  of  departure  from  the  adult  order  of 
words  appeared  in  his  placing  "  No  "  at  the  beginning 
of  his  sentences  expressing  negation.  This  peculiarity  of 
word  arrangement  will  be  illustrated  in  a  later  paragraph. 


LANGUAGE  307 

(3)  Inflection.  —  Sully  commends  the  young  learner's 
efforts  to  smooth  out  the  eccentricities  of  standard  Eng- 
lish, praises  his  originality,  and  his  flagrant  disregard  of 
the  conventional  irregularities  of  English  inflection,  and 
maintains  that  in  his  blunders  the  young  adventurer 
"  shows  a  truly  grammatical  feeling  for  the  general  types 
or  norms  of  language."  But  the  children  have  not  been 
able  to  effect  a  reform,  and  so  each  generation  of  English- 
speaking  children  must  run  the  gauntlet  of  these  irregu- 
larities, must  learn  the  ways  around  these  pitfalls,  or  be 
set  down  for  illiterates.  Their  greatest  difficulty,  no 
doubt,  is  with  the  irregular  tense  forms.  They  must 
learn  that,  "  I  seed  "  will  not  do  for,  "  I  saw,"  and  that, 
"  have  sawed  "  will  not  be  accepted  even  in  the  primary 
grades  for  "  have  seen."  ^  Next  in  order  of  difficulty  is 
Number.  The  child  must  learn  that  the  plural  of  man  is 
not  "  mans,"  but  men  ;  of  foot,  feet,  not  foots.  Children 
also  have  more  or  less  trouble  in  learning  the  rules 
governing  the  agreement  of  verbs  and  their  subjects  in 
person  and  number.  For  example,  the  child,  as  a  rule, 
uses  "  is  "  before  "  are  "  ;  in  fact  "  are  "  is  a  rather  late 
acquisition,   so  we   hear  "  mans    is,"  "  books  is,"  "  v^die 

1  As  I  look  through  R.'s  early  sentences,  I  fail  to  find  many  blunders  in 
the  management  of  tense  forms.  This  class  of  errors  belongs,  I  think,  to 
a  stage  not  reached  by  this  record,  perhaps  the  fourth  and  fifth  years. 
Careful  training  no  doubt  will  help  a  child  to  master  these  forms  early. 
More  effective  still  is  the  copy  which  the  child  hears.  He  gets  control  of 
inflection  mainly  through  copying  the  forms  he  hears. 


308  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

mices  is  ? "  and  so  on.  Further  difficulty  is  met  with 
such  distinctions  as,  "  I  run,"  "  he  runs."  The  child  fails 
to  see  the  difference,  and  so  says  ♦'  I  runs." 

(4)  Pronouns.  —  The  irregularities  of  the  personal 
pronouns  1  present  a  peculiar  set  of  difficulties  to  the 
child  learning  our  language.  Every  one  knows  the  street 
urchin's  reply  to  the  stranger's  suggestion,  "  Run  home, 
your  mother  is  calling  you  !  " — 

«*  Her  ain't  a  callin*  we, 
Us  don't  belong  to  she." 

It  seems  highly  probable  that  the  child  acquires  the 
correct  use  of  the  personal  pronouns  largely  through 
imitation.  For  example,  the  Preyer  boy's  "  Bitte  gib  mir 
brod  "  (please  give  me  bread),  very  likely,  was  a  repro- 
duction of  a  sentence  he  had  often  heard.  The  child 
R.'s  use  of  "  I,"  "  itself,"  "  himself,"  "  it,"  the  only  forms 
of  the  personal  pronoun  which  I  am  sure  he  used  prior 
to  the  fourth  year,  belonged,  mainly,  to  the  mechanical, 
imitative  class  of  expressions.  And  yet  not  wholly ; 
e.g.^  the  use  of  the  personal  "  I  "2  was  due  in  some  in- 


'  The  relative  and  interrogative  pronouns  may  be  left  out  of  account 
here  for  the  reason  that  the  former  are  not  used  until  long  after  the  close 
of  the  period  now  under  review,  and  the  interrogatives  offer  no  special 
difficulty. 

2 The  personal  pronoun  "I"  or  "a"  —  or  a  sound  half  way  between 
the  long  I  and  the  short  a  —  was  heard  an  even  dozen  times  during  the 
latter  part  of  R.'s  third  year;  five  times  followed  by  "see,"  as  "I  see 
pigs";  four  times,  by  "know,"  as  "I  know  some";  twice  followed  by 


LANGUAGE  309 

stances,  so  it  seemed,  to  a  kind  of  confusion  of  himself 
with  other  persons  whom  he  heard  saying, "  I  see  so  and 
so,"  "  I  know  so  and  so  "  and  the  Hke. 

The  suggestion  that  sometimes  the  child's  use  of  "  I " 
was  due  to  confusion  of  himself  and  other  persons  came 
from  R.'s  answer  to  my  question,  Where  is  I  ?  which  he 
answered  first  by  touching  his  eye,  then  by  crying  "  papa." 
That  is,  when  the  child  heard  the  sound  I,  he  thought 
either  of  the  eye,  the  sense  organ,  or  the  name  "  I " 
which  he  had  heard  others  use  when  referring  to  them- 
selves. Thus,  "  papa  "  was  one  name  for  a  certain  indi- 
vidual, "  I "  was  another  name  for  the  same  individual. 
Further,  the  child  undoubtedly  dwells  much  in  the  ac- 
tions and  the  sayings  of  those  about  him ;  and  it  does  not 
seem  improbable  that  with  his  small  knowledge  of  per- 
sons as  separate  and  distinct  centers  of  energy  —  indeed, 
with  no  thought  at  all  about  the  matter  —  occasionally  he 
should  think  or  image  so  vividly  what  he  hears  others 
saying  or  sees  them  doing  that  his  own  personality  should 
become  obscured  by  his  vivid  images  of  another  person's 
activities,  and  that  he,  in  imagination,  should   become 


«  will,"  as  «  I  will " ;  and  once  by  «  dot  know,"  i.  e.,  I  do  not  know.  The 
"  I  will "  was  spoken  in  reply  to  the  request,  "  Wait  until  I  come  back  " ; 
the  "  I  dot  know  "  was  said  in  answer  to  the  question.  Who  was  cry- 
ing ?  The  other  nine  instances  of  the  use  of  "  I "  were  without  refer- 
ence to  what  others  said.  The  "  I  "  seemed  to  take  the  place  of  "  Wa  " 
and"Wadu"  —  his  name  for  himself — for  the  moment,  and,  so  far  as 
one  could  tell,  without  any  reason  for  so  doing. 


3IO  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

virtually  the  other  person,  and  so  should  use  the  expres- 
sions of  the  person  into  whose  place  he  has,  for  the  mo- 
ment, drifted.  He  thinks  himself  into  the  things  he  sees 
others  doing,  and  why  may  he  not  into  iising  their  ex- 
pressions ?  In  some  such  way,  it  seems  to  me,  we  may 
find  an  explanation  of  many  of  the  early  uses  of  "  I." 
The  child  says  "  I,"  not  because  he  is  growing  in  con- 
sciousness of  self  as  a  distinct  personality,  but  because 
he  in  imagination  repeats  the  expressions  which  he 
hears  another  person  use.  And  since,  according  to  a 
well  known  principle,  it  is  only  one  step  from  vivid  image 
to  motor  discharge  —  in  particular,  that  the  road  from 
auditory  impression  to  vocal  utterance  is  short  and  smooth 
—  we  need  not  be  surprised  that  the  child  utters  what  is 
in  his  mind.  So,  in  order  to  explain  the  child's  early 
and  correct  use  of  **  I,"  we  need  only  to  think  of  him  as 
forming  vivid  images  of  the  things  he  hears  his .  elders 
saying,  and  as  being  imitative  in  a  high  degree. 

(5)  Before  the  appearance  of  articulate  speech,  the 
child  expresses  negation,  denial,  refusal,  protest,  and  dis- 
sent by  turning  and  shaking  the  head,  by  inarticulate 
cries  like  "  N  "  ;  then,  perhaps,  a  httle  later  by  hn  h.  A 
little  later  still,  "  no  "  is  repeated  over  and  over,  "  no  no 
no,"  to  express  negation,  refusal,  etc.  Then  when  the 
child  begins  to  combine  words  into  sentences,  "  No  " 
finds  a  place  in  the  sentence,  usually  at  the  beginning, 
but  sometimes  at  the  end  of  the  sentence. 


LANGUAGE  3II 

R.'s  first  use  of"  no,"  as  a  part  of  a  sentence,  was  in 
the  twenty-fifth  month,  in  the  sense  of "  do  not,"  and 
"  is  not,"  as  follows  :  "  no  wat,"  meaning,  do  not  write ; 
"  no  wead,"  meaning,  do  not  read ;  no  bake,  the  pencil 
is  not  broken.  Other  uses  of  ♦'  no,"  during  the  next 
six  months,  were :  "  no  bed,  "  I  do  not  want  to  go  to 
bed  ;  no,  hod,  I  cannot,  it  is  too  hard ;  no  ope,  shut  the 
knife ;  no  ope  doah,  I  did  not  open  the  door ;  no  home, 
1  do  not  want  to  go  home ;  no  see  buddah,  I  do  not  want 
brother  to  have  the  toy;  no  tai,  I  shall  not  tear  the 
paper ;  no  kwin  boke,  the  string  will  not  break ;  no  lu  M., 
M.  says  I  do  not  love  her.  In  the  list  just  quoted  are 
simple  negatives,  requests  to  do  so  and  so,  requests  not 
to  do  certain  things,  refusals,  denials,  and  a  promise  not 
to  do  a  certain  thing.  "  No  "  is  thus  seen  to  have  been 
of  vast  service  in  piecing  out  the  child's  hmited  vocabu- 
lary, and  in  giving  meaning  to  his  abbreviated  sentence 
forms.  At  the  close  of  the  period  covered  by  these 
notes,  "  No  "  still  took  its  place  at  the  beginning  of  the 
sentence,  and  was  still  used  in  the  varied  ways  just  de- 
scribed.* 


1  It  is  interesting  to  note  the  points  of  similarity  between  the  evolution  of 
the  articulate  sentence  and  the  gradual  development  of  the  child's  ability 
to  trace  with  pencil  and  paper  his  mental  images.  First,  both  forms  of 
expression,  drawing  and  sentence  making,  can  be  traced  back  to  aimless 
play  activities  —  to  prelinguistic  babbling,  in  the  one  case,  to  purposeless 
scribbling,  in  the  other.  In  the  second  place,  the  child's  primitive  sen- 
tences, like  his  early  drawings  are  defective  in  the  enumeration  of  parts ; 


312 


FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 


Table  based  on  the  record  of  R.'  s  speech  illustrating  the  develop- 
ment of  the  sentence.     (^Cf.  Mrs.  Moore,  Op.  cit.,  p.  14^.) 


Month.       The  Sentence. 


Its  Meanin 


24th. 
25th. 

26th. 

27th. 

28th. 

29th. 

30th. 


Gash  faw, 
Wawee  det, 
kick  buddah, 
wead  moom, 

no  w6g,  fouh, 
aga  Dahaw, 
no,  hod, 
puttah  Wawee, 
pettie  bed, 
buddah-nass-dess, 
buddah  kwy, 
wat  pedie, 
dasis  on, 
no  ope  doah, 
nass  chai, 
betie,  Dat  (Jack) , 
no  see  buddah, 
no  hut  fowu, 
in    mamma   ooni 

fowu, 
uh  ki  bed, 
moah  two  high, 
fo  in  du  watu, 
no  wash  face, 
no    Buddah,    fin- 

nie  bohn. 


The  glass  fell,  or  falls. 

I  want  some  dates. 

brother  is  kicking. 

read  more  about  the  cow  jumping  over  the 

moon, 
spin  the  top  on  the  floor,  not  on  the  rug. 
as  he  covered  a  picture  of  "  Grandpa." 
I  cannot  shut  the  door,  too  hard. 
R.  wants  the  pencil, 
put  the  paper  on  the  bed. 
this  is  brother's  nice  dress, 
brother  is  crying. 
I  want  the  pencil  to  write, 
put  on  your  glasses. 
I  did  not  open  the  door, 
nice  chair  (after  he  had  dusted  it), 
wants  some  food  for  his  toy  horse  Jack. 
doesn't  want  his  brother  to  have  a  certain  toy. 
I  will  not  hurt  the  flower. 

the  flower  is  in  mamma's  room. 
I  want  the  other  kind  of  bread, 
toss  the  two  balls  high  again, 
as  he  tossed  a  stone  in  the  water, 
don't  wash  my  face. 

brother,  do  not  touch  the  stove,  or  you  will 
burn  your  fingers. 


he  does  not  utter  enough  words  as  he  does  not  make  enough  separate  parts 
when  drawing.  Thirdly,  the  child  is  careless  regarding  the  position  of 
words  in  a  sentence  as  he  is  careless  about  the  positions  of  parts  in  his 
drawings.  One  may  discover,  also,  a  certain  analogy  between  primitive 
drawings  and  primitive  speech  in  the  defects  in  the  inflection  of  speech 
parts  and  the  crude  representation  of  the  several  features  of  his  drawings. 
Lastly,  the  increasing  ability  to  distinguish  meanings  and  to  articulate 
more  perfectly  words,  idioms,  and  sentences  may  be  likened  to  the  child's 
gradual  mastery  of  technique  in  drawing  along  with  greater  power  in 
imaging  things  he  tries  to  draw. 


LANGUAGE 


313 


Month.       The  Sentence. 


Its  Meaning. 


31st. 


32d. 


33d. 


34th. 


35th. 


36th. 


Komie  in  hauft, 
no  kwin  boke, 
fiss  waggie,  mam- 
ma, 
Waweehanfawk, 
buddah  come  out 

kitchis, 
go  up  chais  git, 
wash  Wadu,  Ga- 

ma,  no  Komie. 
papa    git    Wadu 

wud  bud, 
no  John  walk  bit 

now, 
papa  caw  Wadu 

out  uh  widow, 
mamma  git  book, 

ole  King  Cole 

in, 
no  make  John  bite 

John  pill  uh  milk 
on  uh  table- 
clot, 

eh  gass-hoppuh  dig 
holes,  put  eggs 
in  uh, 

was  Wa  han  uh 

suf, 
tull  Wa  uh  sins, 
baby  tine  uh   git 

uh  soap, 
iss  like  uh  tsame, 
make    good    In- 
dian, big    In- 
dian, 
fine,  nice  Indian, 


Komie  is  in  the  house, 
the  string  will  not  break. 

wants  his  mamma  to  fix  his  wagon, 
wants  knife  in  his  hand. 

brother  is  coming  into  the  kitchen, 
wants  to  go  up-stairs  to  get  a  certain  picture. 
G.   is  watching  R.  so  he  will  not  go  over  to 
Komie's. 

wanted  a  bird  which  he  saw. 

John  cannot  walk  a  bit. 

papa  called  out  of  the  window. 

(meaning  of  this  is  clear). 

don't  let  J.  put  the  pencil  in  his  mouth. 

J.  spilled  milk,  etc. 


as  he  looked  at  a  picture  of  a  grasshopper  de- 
positing eggs. 

wants  to  wash  his  hands  himself, 
tell  R.  what  these  things  are. 

baby  is  trying  to  get  the  soap  (a  picture). 
this  card  is  like  that  one. 


when  he  wanted  one 

to  draw  a  picture  of  an  Indian. 


EXTENSION  OF  THE  APPLICATION  OF  WORDS 

A  well  known  characteristic  of  the  early  speech  of 
children  is  the  tendency  to  give  words  a  much  wider 
application  than  is  warranted  by  our  adult  standards  of 


314  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

meaning.  This  too  wide  application  of  words  in  naming 
or  describing  things,  and  in  expressing  wishes,  is  due,  in 
some  instances,  to  confusion,  to  the  fact  that  distinctions 
are  not  seen  or  understood.  For  example  R.,  after  a 
visit  to  a  menagerie  in  which  the  keeper,  in  order  to 
entertain  the  visitors,  got  a  hippopotamus  to  open  its 
mouth  very  wide,  said, "  hippo  sick  in  uh  watuh  now," 
the  child's  notion  being  that  the  hippo'  was  sick,  and  that 
the  keeper  got  the  animal  to  open  its  mouth  in  order  to 
examine  its  throat,  just  as  we  had  R.  when  we  were  on 
the  lookout  for  diphtheritic  symptoms.  In  other  cases ^ 
the  too  wide  use  of  words  is  due  to  exclusive  attention  to 
a  few  points  of  similarity  and  the  oversight  or  neglect  of 
points  of  difference  among  the  things  to  which  the  same 
name  is  applied ;  and  in  still  other  instances  to  the  in- 
adequacy of  the  child's  vocabulary.  In  the  earlier 
periods,  exclusive  attention  to  the  general  similarity  of 
things  seen  or  heard,  together  with  the  fact  that  the  child 
has  a  small  vocabulary,  will  explain  most  cases  of  the  un- 
warranted extension  of  words. 

But  one  can  never  be  quite  sure  of  his  ground  in  this  field, 
and  it  is  well  to  be  cautious.  To  illustrate,  on  a  certain  day  in 
his  twenty-sixth  month,  R.,  glancing  upward  from  a  second- 
story  window  at  which  he  was  standing,  saw  coal  smoke  rolling 
out  of  the  chimney  of  a  near-by  house,  and  exclaimed  "  choo- 
choo"  (locomotive).  Why  did  the  child  cry  '' choo-choo  " 
rather  than  "smoke"?  Of  course,  the  child  did  not  mistake 
the  brick  house  for   a   locomotive.     But  one  was  in  doubt 


LANGUAGE  3 15 

whether  the  sight  of  the  column  of  rolling  smoke  revived  in  the 
child's  mind  an  image  of  a  locomotive.  If  we  suppose  that  it 
did,  then  it  would  seem,  at  first  thought,  that  the  resemblance 
between  the  great  column  of  smoke  coming  out  of  the  chimney 
and  the  image  of  a  locomotive  pouring  forth  smoke  was  in  the 
center  of  consciousness,  and  there  simply  was  no  notice  of 
points  of  difference,  that  the  child  didn't  stop  to  look  at  the  roof, 
or  the  upper  part  of  the  house,  and  did  just  what  older 
persons  do  every  day  —  named  the  thing  according  to  the  aspect 
which  struck  him  most  forcibly.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  en- 
tirely possible  that  the  child  saw  the  differences  as  well  as  the 
similarities  between  the  image  and  the  percept,  the  similarity, 
however,  having  greater  motor  qualities,  and  so  controlling  the 
character  of  the  vocal  utterance.  Another  and  simpler  expla- 
nation of  the  child's  exclamation  would  be  to  say  that  the  only 
revival  was  the  verbal  expression  "  choo-choo  "  which  had  be- 
come closely  associated  with  the  sight  of  a  column  of  smoke, 
there  being,  in  fact,  no  part  of  the  image  of  a  '*  choo-choo" 
present  to  the  child's  consciousness.  The  further  fact  that 
*< choo-choo"  was  easier  to  speak  than  "smoke"  had  some 
weight,  perhaps,  in  deciding  which  of  the  two  should  be  ut- 
tered. The  difficulties  of  determining  the  mental  factors  in  the 
extension  of  the  word  "  choo-choo  "  to  the  column  of  smoke 
rolling  out  of  the  chimney  are  like  those  met  in  every  attempt 
to  explain  a  little  child's  too  wide  application  of  his  words.* 

The  table  which  follows  contains  a  number  of  words, 

selected  from   R.'s  speech,  which  came  to  have  a  much 

wider  application  than  is  warranted  by  accepted  usage 

among  adults. 

1  For  a  full  discussion  of  the  tendency  of  children  to  widen  the  appli- 
cation of  their  words,  see  Sully,  Studies  of  Childhood^  p.  i6ifF.  On  pages 
167-170  will  be  found  an  interesting  discussion  of  the  process  by  which 


3i6 


FIRST  STEPS   IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 


Table  based  upon  the  record  of  RJ*  s  speech  during  his  second  and 
third  years  y  illustrating  extension  of  application  of  words. 


The  Word.      Its  First  Meaning. 


Later  Applications. 


Dat 

aga 

wee  or  wa 

a  certain  horse 
when  he  drank  all 

of  his  milk 
a  rain-shower 

moom 
baw 

moon 
ball 

tick-tick 
hat 

a  watch 
hat 

doah 
tat 

choo-choo 
babie 

door 

a  cat 

a  locomotive 

baby 

fouh 
dee 

floor 

please  sit  here 

tee 


winia 
bad 

bodie 

bow  way 


a  stick 


em 

a  worm 

mena 

medicine 

hod 

toast 

window 
anything  that  hurts 

him 
a  bird 

a  feather  which 
was  blown  for  his 
amusement 


all  horses  ;  the  head  of  a  claw-hammer. 

anything  put  out  of  sight ;  disappear- 
ances of  all  kinds. 

drops  of  water  on  the  walk  ;  puddle  by 
the  roadside  ;  water  in  pond  or  lake. 

sun  ;  stars. 

all  roundish  objects,  apples,grapes,pears, 
eggs,  a  bell  clapper,  a  squash. 

a  thermometer,  a  calendar. 

an  eye-shade,  a  lamp-shade,  an  inverted 
wooden  plate,  a  rooster's  comb. 

all  gates. 

picture  of  an  owl,  picture  of  lion's  head. 

smoke  rolling  out  of  a  chimney. 

picture  of  an  owl,  a  cast  of  "  the  laugh- 
ing boy,"  a  small  monkey,  all  per- 
sons except  adults. 

the  ground. 

put  it  here,  I  am  sitting  dpwn,  I  want 
down,  I'll  put  it  on  the  floor. 

a  cane,  an  umbrella,  a  ruler,  a  razor, 
a  board,  and  all  stick-like  things  for 
which  he  had  no  other  name. 

flies,  ants,  all  small  crawling  insects, 
head  of  timothy  grass. 

the  contents  of  all  bottles  except  the 
one  in  which  he  usually  saw  milk. 

anything  difficult  or  resisting,  e.  g.^ 
when  trying  to  lift  a  heavy  book, 
or  to  push  a  door  open,  or  when  he 
wants  one  to  make  a  big  drawing  of  a 
horse  or  "  choo-choo." 

a  mirror. 

anything  out  of  its  usual  place,  as  mud 
on  side  walk,  or  on  his  fingers. 

worm  on  the  limb  of  a  tree,  a  toad 
hopping  along  on  the  sidewalk. 

a  pigeon  which  flew   away  when  he 

started  after  it. 


words  come  to  be  specialized ;  also,  of  the  part  which  observed  analogies 
play  in  the  for  nn*  ion  of  language. 


LANGUAGE  317 

SUMMARY     OF     THE     PRINCIPAL    FEATURES    OF    R.'s   SPEECH 
ACTIVITIES    DURING    HIS   SECOND   AND   THIRD  YEARS 

Thirteenth  month,  —  In  the  first  month  of  the  second 
year,  babbling  continued  with  increasing  vigor,  variety, 
and  interest.  Many  new  syllables  appeared,  and  the 
child's  control  of  the  articulatory  mechanism  improved 
rapidly.  He  also  formed  a  number  of  new  associations 
between  words  or  sounds  heard  and  objects  or  actions ; 
he  was  becoming  more  imitative ;  and  a  number  of  asso- 
ciations between  verbal  requests  on  our  part  and  certain 
movements  on  the  part  of  the  child  had  been  formed. 
The  latter  associations  had  been  built  up,  as  we  saw  above, 
in  much  the  same  manner  as  the  animal  trainer  gets  his 
subjects  into  the  habit  of  performing  certain  tricks  upon 
receiving  a  given  signal  —  a  spoken  word,  a  stroke,  a 
pinch,  a  pull  —  what  not.  In  the  case  of  the  child,  as  of 
the  trained  animal,  it  is  a  mechanical  matter.  The  ex- 
pressions — the  requests  —  which  the  child  hears,  have  no 
language  meaning  to  him,  at  this  period,  except  that  cer- 
tain movements  on  his  part  are  to  follow.  By  careful  and 
persistent  drilling,  the  promptness  of  the  child's  responses 
to  verbal  requests  increases  rapidly.  There  was  yet 
no  independent  naming  of  things  seen  or  heard,  i.  e.,  no 
words  or  sounds  were  used  to  designate  objects  —  as  one 
hears  at  a  later  period  —  when,  for  example,  the  child 
cries  "  tat "  at  the  sight  of  a  cat,  or  "  babie  "  at  the  sight 
of  a  small  child.     .     .     .     Desire  for  an  object  was  ex- 


3l8  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

pressed  regularly  by  an  explosive  "  hi,"  and  stretching 
the  arms  toward  the  thing  he  wanted. 

Fifteenth  month.  —  A  great  advance  in  th^\  fifteenth 
month  was  in  the  appearance,  for  the  first  time,  of  the  in- 
dependent use  of  words  or  sounds  to  designate  things  the 
child  saw  or  heard.  The  sight  of  the  object  or  the 
sound  which  the  child  recognized  called  forth  the  name 
or  word  which  had  been  associated  with  it.  Examples 
were,  —  "  ack  "  at  the  sight  of  a  particular  hat ;  **  babee  " 
when  he  saw  his  image  in  a  mirror  or  other  reflecting 
surface  ;  "  ti-tit "  as  he  held  a  watch  to  his  ear. 

The  fifteenth  month  showed  progress  also  in  the  number 
of  things  known  by  name,  in  understanding  the  simple 
requests  of  others,  and  in  the  greater  definiteness  of  ex- 
pression of  his  emotional  states.  The  child  repeated 
words  spoken  for  him,  and  he  spent  a  good  deal  of  time 
in  babbling  to  himself,  repeating  the  same  syllables  over 
and  over  in  a  half  singing  tone. 

The  first  observed  instance  of  naming  a  thing  which 
he  wanted  occurred  in  this  month  (447th  day)  when  he 
cried  "  baw  "  (ball)  then  began  to  look  around  searching 
for  the  favorite  plaything  of  that  period.  (As  we  have 
seen,  grunting  and  pointing  or  stretching  the  arm  toward 
a  desired  object  occurred  much  earlier.)  It  was  noticed 
also  that  when  the  child  asked  for  a  thing  and  was  not 
given  it  at  once,  he  threw  back  his  head  and  shoulders, 
stiffened  his  back,  and  made  a  scolding  sound.     This  is 


LANGUAGE  319 

one  illustration  of  the  general  fact  that  the  child's  emo- 
tional states  were  coming  to  be  expressed  with  more 
definiteness,  and  that  his  varying  moods  found  greater 
facility  and  variety  of  expression. 

It  was  noted  further  that  the  child's  ability  to  repeat 
sound  copies  was  improving  rapidly,  that  his  vocal  utter- 
ances were  becoming  more  like  the  copies  made  for  him. 
For  example,  there  was  a  marked  improvement  in  speak- 
ing "  bye-bye  "  and  "  ball."  Instead  of "  ba-ba  "  the  long 
y  was  sounded  distinctly  in  "  bye-bye,"  and  in  speaking 
"  ball,"  ba-i  had  given  way  to  "  baw." 

Sixteenth  month.  —  The  first  instance  of  "  spontaneous 
imitation  "  of  another's  expression,  which  was  noted,  oc- 
curred in  the  sixteenth  month,  the  first  example  being 
**  bye-bye  tat  "  upon  hearing  the  words,  bye-bye  cat." 

Eighteenth  month.  —  Perhaps  the  most  noticeable  ad- 
vances in  this  month,  as  compared  with  preceding  months, 
were  the  increasing  use  of  words  to  name  things  seen  or 
heard,  and  the  growing  tendency  to  express  his  wishes  by 
words  as  well  as  by  gestures.  Particularly  noticeable  were 
the  increasing  range  and  precision  of  his  expressions  of 
desire,  and  his  greater  skill  in  getting  others  to  under- 
stand his  wishes.  His  ability  to  distinguish  between 
words  spoken  to  him  and  to  associate  them  with  the 
proper  objects  was  also  improving  rapidly.  Repeating 
words  upon  request  was  a  pleasant  exercise  into  which 
he  entered  with  spirit. 


320  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

Nineteenth  month.  —  The  child's  speech  activities  for 
the  nineteenth  month  fall  into  the  following  fairly  distinct 
classes:  (i)  understanding  the  speech  of  otTiers,  (2)  at- 
tempts, upon  request,  to  repeat  others'  words,  (3)  expres- 
sions of  desire,  (4)  naming  things  on  sight,  (5)  remarks, 
statements,  exclamations,  (6)  spontaneous  efforts  to  re- 
peat others'  expressions,  (7)  replies  to  questions,  what  is  ? 
where  is  ?  etc. 

The  notes  for  the  nineteenth  month  contain  the  first 
references  to  the  child's  understanding  and  replies  to 
questions,  what  is  ?  where  is  ?  do  you  want  ?  and  so  on. 
Probably  there  were  earlier  instances,  but  those  which 
follow  are  the  first  of  which  a  record  was  kept.  The 
child  understood  that  he  was  to  try  to  speak  the  name  of 
the  object  upon  hearing  the  words,  what  is  this,  or  that  ? 
Thus,  when  shown  the  face  of  an  American  silver  dollar 
and  asked,  What  is  this  ?  he  replied,  "  lady-la  "  (a  lady). 
When  asked,  Do  you  want  some  strawberries  ?  he  an- 
swered, "  uh  uh  uh,"  with  a  forward  motion  of  the  head. 
If  one  pointed  to  a  flower,  asking,  what  is  that  ?  he  said 
nothing,  but  inhaled  deeply.  (The  thing  that  stood  out 
prominently  in  connection  with  the  sight  of  flowers  was 
the  way  he  had  seen  other  persons  act  toward  them  — 
that  is,  smell  them.) 

Twentieth  month.  —  The  impression  was  strong  during 
this  month  that  the  child  imitated  spontaneously  a  great 
many  more  sounds  than  he  did  two  or  three  weeks  before. 


LANGUAGE  32 1 

It  seemed  that  sounds,  particularly  words  spoken  by- 
others,  served  to  pull  the  trigger  of  the  imitative  speech 
apparatus  more  frequently  than  formerly.  But  even  yet 
the  child's  speech  machinery  was  more  apt  to  be  set 
going  by  things  seen  than  by  things  heard. 

Sing-song  babbling  and  voice  play  occupied  a  large 
place  in  the  speech  activities  of  the  twentieth  month. 
Many  syllables,  some  of  them  names  of  things  or  persons, 
many  others  merely  nonsense  syllables  were  repeated 
over  and  over,  seemingly  to  see  how  many  changes  could 
be  rung  on  them.  Thus,  while  playing  with  his  wagon, 
he  kept  saying  in  a  sing-song  fashion,  "  wa-wa  "  "wa- 
wa."  For  some  reason,  the  name  "  Nannie  "  invited  a 
trial  of  his  skill  in  speech  gymnastics,  and  he  took  great 
pleasure  in  repeating  the  word  over  with  every  possible 
inflection  and  accent. 

On  a  certain  day,  when  I  pointed  to  a  strange  horse 
and  asked,  "  What  is  that  ?  "  he  answered  "  mum  "  —  his 
name  for  strange  horses,  cows,  pigs,  and  the  like.  Then 
when  I  pointed  to  the  family  horse.  Jack,  and  asked. 
What  is  that  ?  he  said  "  Dat "  (Jack).  The  word  «  Dat " 
was  associated  with  a  particular  animal,  while  the  word 
"  mum  "  was  associated  with  a  class  of  animals  for  each 
of  which  he  had  as  yet  no  particularizing  names. 

Twenty-third  month.  —  By  the  beginning  of  the  twenty- 
third  month,  the  child  had  developed  a  mania  for  going 
about  naming  things,  as  if  to  tell  others  their  names,  or 


322  FIRST   STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

to  call  our  attention  to  the  things  he  was  examining.  He 
would  look  at,  point  toward,  or  put  his  hand  on  an  ar- 
ticle, speak  its  name,  then  look  at  his  companions.  Ex- 
amples :  the  fire,  fye ;  a  cast  of  a  laughing  boy,  babee ;  a 
chair,  hai ;  a  kitten,  tee-tee ;  the  stove,  hot ;  a  ring,  win  ; 
book,  book ;  water,  wahu ;  ribbon,  ibbie ;  apron,  Ipie ; 
soap,  hoop;  mitten,  mehee;  a  drum,  dud  or  dod;  a 
handkerchief,  hahi ;  a  rattle,  wahee. 

It  was  observed  "  that  the  word  *  mum '  which,  in  the 
previous  month,  was  the  name  he  applied  to  all  strange 
horses,  has  been  displaced  by  the  word  *  Dat '  (Jack,  the 
name  of  the  family  horse).  *  Dat '  is  now  his  name  for 
all  horses.  .  .  .  The  moon,  sun,  stars  —  all  are  called 
'  moom.'    *  Moom  *  means  any  bright  object  in  the  sky." 

Twenty-fourth  month.  —  The  most  interesting  develop- 
ment of  the  last  month  of  the  second  yccir  was  the  ap- 
pearance of  expressions  containing  two  words,  sometimes 
as  statements  of  fact,  remarks  about  occurrences,  as  when 
he  said,  "  gash  faw  "  (the  glass  falls  or  fell)  when  some  one 
dropped  a  glass  on  the  floor,  and  "  aga  baw,"  i.  e.,  the  ball 
is  gone ;  sometimes  to  express  requests,  as  when  he  said, 
"  Wawee  det "  (R.  wants  some  dates) ;  sometimes  in  imi- 
tation of  another's  statements  to  him.  In  these  expres- 
sions we  have  the  second  step  in  the  evolution  of  the  ar- 
ticulate sentence,  the  single  word  or  syllable  being  the 
first  step.  (For  fuller  treatment  of  the  development  of 
the  sentence,  see  page  298ff.) 


LANGUAGE  323 

A  note  made  near  the  end  of  the  month  says,  "  the 
child  seems  to  understand  practically  everything  that  is 
said  to  him,  provided  the  remark  or  request  relates  to 
things  or  places  in  or  around  the  house.  One  exception 
is  to  be  noted,  —  the  child  does  not  understand  the  re- 
quest, *  look  under  the  table.'  The  word  *  under '  puzzles 
him." 

On  the  fourth  day  of  his  twenty-fourth  month,  I  took 
R.  to  a  zoological  museum  to  see  what  he  would  call  the 
various  animals  —  mounted  specimens  —  exhibited  there. 
A  full  grown  moose  was  called  "  dat "  (horse) ;  pointing 
to  its  mate  a  few  feet  away,  he  exclaimed  "  moah,"  his 
word  for  another.  A  sea-lion  was  called  "  mum "  and 
wow-wow ;  a  hippopotamus,  mum ;  an  opossum,  mum ; 
a  peccary,  mum ;  a  guinea  pig,  mum  ;  a  tiger,  mum  ;  an 
emu,  chickie ;  a  monkey,  babee ;  arctic  owls,  bi  (birds) ; 
bird  eggs  in  nest,  baw ;  snail  shells,  baw ;  a  wolf,  mum. 

Eleven  months  and  six  days  after  the  first  visit  to  the  museum 
the  child  made  a  second  visit,  and  an  effort  was  made  to  get 
him  to  name  the  same  animals  which  he  had  named  so  readily 
and  confidently  on  his  first  visit.  Eleven  months  had  wrought 
greatly  increased  power  of  discrimination,  and  greater  regard 
for  the  distinguishing  features  of  the  strange  things.  And  I 
found  to  my  surprise  that  he  refused  to  try  to  name  the  animals 
(excepting  the  hippo',  the  peccary,  and  the  emu,  which  he 
called  "pig,"  "pig,"  and  *' chicken"  respectively)  saying  to 
my  questions.  What  is  that?  "papa  tull,"  which  meant,  "I 
don't  know,  you  tell." 


324  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

Twenty-fifth  month.  —  Prior  to  the  twenty-fifth  month 
nearly  all  of  the  child's  remarks  were  of  the  nature  of  ex- 
clamations announcing  or  naming,  by  the  use  of  a  single 
word,  things,  actions,  events  perceived.  The  present 
month  showed  a  decided  advance  toward  what  souaded 
like  real  talking  and  the  communication  of  facts  to  others, 
although  the  child's  expressions  were  still  largely  spon- 
taneous remarks  regarding  the  things  in  his  environment. 
Still,  a  great  advance  is  marked  by  such  expressions  as 
"  kick  buddah  "  (brother  is  kicking),  and  "  foo-baw  boff " 
(the  football  bounced  or  will  bounce)  over  the  designa- 
tion of  objects  by  single  words.  In  this  month  appeared 
the  first  use  of  "  No,"  meaning,  in  requests,  "  do  not," 
e.  g.y  "  No  home  "  —  do  not  go  home  " ;  and  in  remarks, 
meaning  ''  is  not,"  or  "  did  not,"  or  "  will  not,"  e.  g.y  No 
ope  doah  —  I  did  not  open  the  door;  No  hut  fowu  —  I 
will  not  hurt  the  flower. 

Three  things  in  particular  marked  R.'s  speech  of  this 
period:  (i)  the  order  of  words  in  a  given  expression 
was  not  uniform ;  (2)  there  was  usually,  in  expressions  of 
more  than  one  word,  a  pause  after  each  word,  as  in  the 
expression  "  buddah  kwy  "  (brother  is  crying)  there  was  a 
pause  after  "  buddah,"  then  the  word  *'  kwy  "  was  uttered ; 
(3)  in  the  enunciation  of  many  words  —  but  not  all  — 
there  was  a  certain  thickness  and  indistinctness,  a  sort  of 
ragged  edge  which  cannot  be  represented  in  print.  The 
child's  enunciation  was  not  as  distinct  and  clean-cut  as 


LANGUAGE  325 

the  spelling  in  this  summary  would  indicate.  The  words 
papa,  mamma,  no,  Wawee,  and  a  few  others  were  spoken 
as  clearly  and  distinctly  as  by  adults,  but  the  rule  was, 
a  certain  thickness  and  indistinctness. 

Thirty-third  month}  —  The  first  questions  appeared  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  thirty-third  month,  and  were  "  whes  " 
or  "  fez  John  ?  "  and  "  fez  ut "  (it)  ?  These  two  expressions 
were  heard  only  once  each ;  but  they  were  true  prophets. 
For  by  the  middle  of  the  next  month  there  were  many 
signs  that  the  questioning  period  was  at  hand. 

Thirty-fifth  month.  —  A  note  made  near  the  end  of  the 
thirty-fifth  month  says,  "  the  child  has  a  passion  for  ask- 
ing *  whe '  or  *  fe '  about  almost  everything  he  hears  men- 
tioned, things  which  have  spatial  existence  and  those 
which  have  not."  Of  the  latter  were  noted,  —  "whes 
Monday  ?  whes  winter  ?  whes  grand  ?  "  It  was  noticed  in 
this  connection  that  almost  any  sort  of  an  answer  brought 
an  "  Oh  "  in  a  tone  of  satisfaction  with  the  answers  offered 
to  his  numerous  inquiries.  The  interrogative  "  fat  ? " 
(what?)  was  heard  a  few  times  in  the  latter  part  of  this 
month.  There  was  also  an  occasional  use  of  "  a  "  or  "  I  " 
meaning  himself,  e.  g'.,"3i  tsee  cah,"  i.  e.y  I  see  a  car. 

1  My  notes  for  the  months  from  the  twenty-sixth  to  the  thirty-second  in^ 
elusive,  contain  more  than  eleven  typewritten  pages  on  R.'s  speech  ac- 
tivities. The  headings  under  which  the  data  are  arranged  are  as  follows : 
(I)  expressions  of  desire,  (2)  naming  things  seen  or  heard,  (3)  remarks 
and  observations,  (4)  imitative  speech,  (5)  expressions  of  purpose  or  inten- 
tion, (6)  understanding  others'  speech. 


326  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

Thirty-sixth  month.  —  Questioning  was  at  high  tide,  so 
it  seemed.  The  list  of  interrogatives  was  enlarged  by 
the  addition  of  "  Who  ?  "  in  the  first  week  of  the  month 
and  "  Whi  ?  "  (which)  in  the  second  week.  But  at  the 
close  of  the  month  the  vast  majority  of  his  questions  be- 
gan with  "  Whe  ?  "  or  "  Fat  ?  "  (What  ?) 


VOCABULARY  OF  THE  CHILD  R. 

By  the  term  '•  Vocabulary  "  as  used  here  is  meant  the 
list  of  different  words  used  independently  by  the  child 
in  naming  things  perceived,  in  expressing  wishes  or  de- 
sires, in  making  statements  of  fact  or  purpose,  or  in 
asking  questions.  This  definition  excludes  all  of  the 
child's  replies  to  questions,  as  well  as  words  and  expres- 
sions which  were  understood  by  the  child,  but  were  not 
used  by  him.  It  will  be  understood  that  when  one  says 
there  were  so  many  different  words  used  in  a  given 
period  that  one  means  that  that  number  were  heard  and 
recorded.  In  order  to  catch  every  word  a  child  uses 
after  he  begins  to  talk  freely  one  would  have  to  be  with 
the  child  every  one  of  his  waking  moments,  and  even 
then  many  words  would  escape  notice  or  record.  It  is 
physically  impossible  for  one  person  to  hear  and  record 
all  the  words  a  child  of  three  will  utter  when  in  a  talk- 
ative mood.  I  have  made  some  effort  to  calculate  the 
probable  percentage  of  words  used  by  R.  which  escaped 


LANGUAGE 


327 


my  notice,  or  which,  for  some  reason,  were  not  recorded. 
As  a  result  of  these  calculations,  it  is  estimated  that 
twenty  per  cent,  of  the  words  used  by  the  child  are  not 
in  the  record.  That  is,  of  every  one  hundred  different 
words  which  the  child  uttered  the  record  contains  only 
eighty.  This,  however,  is  only  a  rough  estimate  and 
should  not  be  given  great  weight. 


Table  showing  the  number  of  different  words  noted ;  also  the 
relative  frequency  of  the  various  parts  of  speech  for  three 
different  periods. 


PERIOD. 

0 

1 

< 

i 

3 

^ 

d, 

(—1 

12 

3 

0 

u 

0= 
0= 
0= 

Second  Year 

25  th  to  30th  months  inclu- 
sive       .    .    .• 

120 
213 
261 

8 

56 
163 

2 

14 
81 

3 
12 

43 

0 
0 

8 

I 
5 

143 
308 

564 

31st  to  36th  months  inclu- 
sive     

The  percentages  for  the  different  parts  of  speech  for  the  same 
three  periods  are  as  follows  : 


PERIOD. 

CO 

1 

1 

3 

3 

d 
2 

Oh 

i 

Ph 

1 

Second  year  ,  .  . 
25  th  to  30th  months 

inclusive  .... 
31st  to  36th  months 

inclusive  .... 

83.9% 
69.1% 
46.2% 

5-5  ^« 
18.1% 

28.7% 

1.3^ 
4.5^^ 
14-3^ 

2.+  % 

3.8% 
7.6% 

1.4% 

0.7% 
0.3% 
0.8% 

6.2% 

3.8% 
0.5% 

0 
0 

0 

328 


FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 


Table  showing  by  months  changes  in  R's  pronunciation  of 
sixty-two  words. 

The  Word.  ' 


BaU 

Car 

Hat 

Papa 
Tick  tick 

please 
kittie 


cat 
Jack 

Annie 
thank  you 

my  my 
chickie 

strawberry 

Grandma 

shoe 

there  it  is 

yes 

house 

clock 

orange 

chair 

lady 

dress 

button 

rain 

all  gone 

here  it  is 
water 

wagon 
paper 


ba  i,  13th  mo. ;  baw,  15th  mo. ;  ba-ba,  i8th  mo. ;  baw, 

19th  mo. ;  ball,  3  2d  mo. 
gaga,  14th  mo. ;  kaka,  i8th  mo. ;  cah,  30th  mo.  ^ 

ack,  15th  mo.;  hack,  17th  mo.;  at,  19th  mo. ;  hat,  20th 

mo. 
bapa,  1 6th  mo.;  papa,  i8th  mo. 
ti  tit,  15th  mo. ;  tick  ti,  iSth  mo. ;  tick  tick,  19th  mo. ; 

ditit,  24th  mo. ;  dikok,  28th  mo. 
bease,  i6th  mo. ;  pease,  17th  mo. ;  please,  34th  mo. 
tickie,  l6th    mo.;  kickie,    i8th    mo.;    ki  ki,   20th  mo.; 

teetee,  23d  mo. ;  tittie,  29th  mo. ;  kiddie,  32d  mo. 
tat,  1 6th  mo. ;  cat,  30th  mo. 
Yak,  17th  mo.  ;  Gack,  i8th  mo. ;  Dat,  20th  mo. ;  Jack, 

29th  mo. 
Nannie,  17th  mo.;  Annie,  20th  mo. 
akn  or  akney,  17th  mo.  ;  akney,  1 8th  mo.;  kakoo,  23d 

mo. ;  akoo,  27th  mo. 
ma  ma,  17  th  mo. ;  ma  i,  20th  mo. 
tick,  17th  mo.  ;  tchick,  i8th  mo. ;  tick  tick,  20th  mo. ; 

chick,  28th  mo.  ;  chigie,  32d  mo. ;  chicken,  34th  mo. 
abaw,  1 8th  mo. ;  aba,  19th  mo. ;  tibbie,  29th  mo. 
Ga  ga,  17th  mo.  ;  Gama,  31st  mo. 
sgjiuss,  19th  mo.  ;   choo,  27th  mo. ;  shoe,  30th  mo. 
e  ti,  19th  mo. 

yats,  yesh,  19th  mo.  ;  juss,  32d  mo. 
ouf,  19th  mo.;  houf,  20th  mo.;  houft,  houf,  31st  mo., 

house,  32d  mo. 
tlok,  19th  mo. ;  cock,  20th  mo. ;  tock,  24th  mo. ;  titock, . 

25th  mo. ;  cock,  34th  mo.  ;  clock,  36th  mo. 
on,  19th  mo. ;  ojoof,  28th  mo. 
tai,  19th  mo. ;  chu,  32d  mo. ;  chai,  34th  mo. 
ladle  la,  19th  mo. ;  ladies,  32d  mo. ;  lady,  34th  mo. 
dit,  19th  mo. ;  dwis,  25th  mb. ;  dess,  27th  mo. 
botie,  19th  mo. ;  butit,  20th  mo. 
ween,  19th  mo. ;  wee  uh,  20th  mo.  ;  wain,  31st  mo. 
a^ga,   19th  mo. ;  ga,  23d  mo  ;  aga,  24th  mo. ;  aga,  28th 

mo. ;  ga,  29th  mo.  ;  agone,  31st  mo.  -^ 

hi  tee,  19th  mo. ;  i  ti,  20th  mo.  ;  hi  ti,  26th  mo.  ^ 

wafit,   20th   mo. ;  wahu,   23d  mo. ;  wahaw,   24th  mo. ; 

wahu,  27  th  mo. ;  watu,  30th  mo. 
wawa,  20th  mo.  ;  waggie,  31st  mo. 
pupuh,   20th   mo. ;  petie,  24th  mo. ;  pedie,   27th  mo. ; 

petie,  35th  mo. 


LANGUAGE 


329 


The  Word. 


pencil 

fan 

cracker 

stocking 

hot 

milk 


soap 

drum 

Randolph 

dollie 

write 

wash 

talk 

cup 

smoke 

fun 


another 

Grandpa 

glasses 

nice 

potato 

boy 

things 

Ruth 

sand-pile 

sleep 

tell 

little 

dig 
bird 

string 


petie,  20th  mo. ;  petit,  21st  mo. ;  putie,  23d  mo. ;  putu, 

24th  mo. ;  puduh,  31st  mo. 
hnan,  yhan,  20th  mo. 
tatie,  20th  mo. ;  cackwee,  30th  mo. 
totiuh,  20th  mo. ;  datie,  29th  mo. ;  tadie,  31st  mo. 
hok,  2 1st  mo.  ;  hot,  23d  mo. 
ma,  23d   mo. ;    muck,  24th   mo. ;    mi   man,  25th  mo. ; 

muck,  30th  mo.  ;  milk,  34th  mo. 
hoop,  23d  mo.  J  hope,  27th  mo. ;  soap,  36th  mo. 
dud,  23d  mo.  ;  gug,  25th  mo. ;  dug,  27^1  mo. 
Wawee,  24th  mo. ;  Wadoff,  30th  mo. ;  Wa,  Wadu,  32d 

mo. ;  Wa,  Wadu,  36th  mo. 
doih,  24th  mo.  ;  dallie,  32d  mo. ;  dollie,  36th  mo. 
wat,  25th  mo. ;  wite,  28th  mo. 
wysh,  25th  mo. ;  was,  35th  mo. 
kawk,  25th  mo. 
kuk,  25  th  mo. ;  cup,  31st  mo. 
moke,  25th  mo. ;  hmoke,  32d  mo. 
whun,  hoen,  25th  mo. ;  whun,  27th  mo. ;  funnie,  35th 

mo. 
nuna,  26th  mo. 

Dahaw,  26th  mo. ;  Gwapl,  30th  mo. 
dasis,  27th  mo. ;  jasis,  29th  mo. ;  glasses,  34th  mo. 
nass,  27  th  mo. 

tapie  or  napie,  29th  mo. ;  tapie,  31st  mo. 
booie,  30th  mo. ;  boy  32d  mo. 
seens,  30th  mo. ;  sins,  32d  mo. 
Woos,  Whoot,  Woot,  31st  mo. 
chan  pa,  31st  mo. ;  san  pa,  32d  mo. 
tseep,  31st  mo.;  seet,  32d  mo. ;  seep,  36th  mo. 
;  tull,  32d  mo. ;  tell,  36th  mo. 
lu,  32d  mo. ;  litu,  li,  34th  mo. ;  lee,  36th 


tullu,  31st  mo. 
ittu,  31st  mo. ; 

mo. 
gig,  32d  mo. 
bu,   2ist   mo. ; 

33d  mo. 
kweemuh,  28th  mo. ;  kwin,  31st  mo. 


bid,  23d   mo. ;   bodie,  31st   mo. ;  bud 


330 


FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 


Table  showing  the  results  of  two  tests  of  R.'s  ability  to  repeat 
words  spoken  to  him  as  copies.  The  tests  were  made  in 
the  last  weeks  of  the  thirty-first  and  the  thirty-sixth 
months.  (A  blank  means  that  the  copy  was  correctly  re- 
produced.^ 


A 

^ 

^ 

^ 

4) 

a> 

(U 

V 

4> 

<L> 

«> 

v 

^ 

^ 

^ 

^ 

1 

1 

1 

1 

& 

o 

<5 

fe 

^ 

6 

8 

1 

g 

8 

g 

a 

I 

2 

CO 

•£ 
^ 

i2 

to 

A 

^ 

abe 

SO 

cho 

so 

ace 
aid 

sell 

tsoll 

siah 

aed 

zebra 

zeba 

zeba 

a  e 

chair 

chu 

chai 

afar 

afa 

afa 

shine 

chine 

tsine 

again 

agin 

agin 

sure 

shoou 

shoou 

ahoy 

ahigh 

ahoy 

as 

azt 

as 

ajar 

aja 

aja 

epoch 

ipik 

epoch 

ache 
ale 

vex 

vix 

wex 

aluh 

auh 

exact 

agat 

eggsack 

bees 

bee? 

beeuz 

why 

fye 

why 

crow 

kwo 

kwo 

where 

feuh 

feuh 

dozen 

dunis 

dozen 

long 

la 

Ian 

Esther 

Ashow 

Esuh 

bank 

bak 

bank 

flow 

fo 

flow 

then 

thwin 

ven  or  jen 

gas 

gas 

gas 

this 

wiss 

viss 

gem 
him 

thin 

fln 

fin 

throw 

fo 

flow 

air 

a  i 

euh 

other 

uUu 

uzzuh 

met 

mit 

met 

snow 

hnow 

sone 

her 

hul 

huh 

booz 

boos 

boos 

care 

ca 

cauh 

boy 

booie 

booie 

orb 

ab 

6b 

girl 

gull 

gull 

use 

juse 

juse 

slay 

tay 

slay 

room 

wum 

wooum 

queen 

tween 

queen 

push 

puss 

puss 

grass 

gwass 

gwass 

urn 

un 

un 

stone 

tone 

tone 

oU 

oiih 

oi  ih 

play 

pay 

play 

horse 

boss 

boss 

LANGUAGE  33 1 

R.'s  rendering  of  the  German  verses — "  Guter  Mond 
du  gehst  so  stille,  etc."  —  (see  below)  furnishes  another 
interesting  study  in  the  development  of  articulation,  and 
in  the  omission  of  difficult  letters  and  substitution  of 
others  for  the  omitted  ones;  also,  of  how  letters  are 
transposed.  For  rendering  of  the  same  verses  by  two 
German  born  children,  see  Preyer,  Op.  cit.^  Part  II,  p.  236. 
Sigismund  and  Preyer  used  the  same  verses,  but  had  the 
children  memorize  them ;  while  in  the  tests  which  I  made, 
the  verses  were  repeated  for  R.,  bit  by  bit,  the  child  re- 
peating after  me  each  bit  as  it  was  said  for  him  as  a  copy. 
The  first  column  below  gives  the  verses  as  they  were 
spoken ;  the  second  and  third  columns  give  the  child's 
pronunciation  of  the  copies,  first,  in  the  twenty-ninth 
month,  and  again  in  the  thirty-fourth  without  practice  on 
the  verses  in  the  five  months  which  elapsed  between  the 
first  and  second  tests. 


332 


FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 


R. 

2gth  month. 

34.th  month. 

Outer 

goo  too 

goo  tuh 

Mond 

mon 

mon 

du  gehst 

go  gest 

doo  gase 

so  stille 

so  tillik 

so  tillie 

Durch  die 

gook  dee 

dook  dee 

Abendwolken 

abuten  wokoo 

aben  woken 

hin 

hin 

been 

Gehst  so 

gehts  so 

gase  so 

traurig 
undich 

wawag 

taugit 

oon  ich 

oon  ich 

fiihle 

fiihle 

fuhle 

Dassich 

dats  ich 

dSss  ich 

ohne  Ruhe 

ohne  Woosie 

ohne  Woolie 

bin 

bin 

bin 

Guter 

gootoo 

gootuh 

Mond 

mon 

mon 

du  darfst 

du  dafst 

du  dats 

es  wissen 

a  wissie 

es  wissen 

Weil  du  so 

wile  doo  so 

vile  doo  so 

verschwiegen 

feegen 

fefeegen 

bist 

bits 

bist 

Warum 

wSmum 

baoom 

meine 

meinit 

meine 

ThrSnen 

tenit 

tren 

fliessen 

feesit 

feesen 

Und  mein 

oon  mein 

oon  mein 

Herz  so 

huts  so 

huts  so 

traurig  ist 

tauwig  its 

twaigits 

The  Mother  Goose  rhyme,  in  which  are  recounted  the 
adventures  of "  Little  Jack  Horner,"  R.  first  memorized 
in  his  thirty-second  month  and  recited,  unaided,  on  three 
different  occasions  as  follows  :  — 


32d  month. 


3^th  month. 


Third  birthday. 


Littu  Jack  Hawnuh 

Sit  in  kawnuh 

Chrissy  pie 

Tuck  in  fum  (or  sum) 

Pull  out  pum  (or 

Kate  out  sum) 

Fat  good  boy  am  I  ? 


Lee  Jack  Hawnuh 
Sit  in  uh  kawnuh 
Eat  Christie  pie 
Tuck  in  uh  tsum 
Pull  op  uh  plum 


Lee  Jack  Hawnuh 
Sit  in  uh  kawnuh 
Eat  uh  Chrissie  pie 
Tuck  in  uh  sum 
Pull  out  uh  plum,  said. 


Fat  u  good  boy  am  I  ?      Fat  good  boy  am  I  ? 


LANGUAGE 


333 


Table  showing  the  relative  frequency  of  the  various  sounds  as 
initial  for  two  periods  :  (i')  the  second  year,  {2)  the  last 
half  of  the  third  year.     {After  Tracy  ^  Op.  cit.,  p.  149.') 


(7)     Second  Year. 

(2)       Last  half  of  Third  Year. 

21  words  began  with  the  sound  of  t 

58  words  began  with  the  sound  ork 

18 

(             «             « 

b 

55              "              "          /^      ^t 

14 

((              ((             (( 

d 

52              "              ««         /  "        w 

12 

((              «             « 

m 

51              ««              "             "        b 

II 

((              ((             ft 

P 

41              tt             tt             tt        f 

10 

tt             tt             tt 

h 

38             «              "             «*        p 

8 

u                         tt                       tt 

w 

38             "             «             "         s 

8 

t                  tt                  tt 

a 

31              «             ««             "        h 

7 

(                   tt                  « 

g 

29              «*              <«             *•         d 

6 

(                   «                  tt 

f 

25              "              ««             «          1 

6 

t                  tt                  (t 

k 

25              «              «             «       m 

5 

t                  tt                  tt 

a 

24             «             "             "        g 

3 

i                tt               tt 

i 

14             "             "             «         n 

3 

f               tt               tt 

n 

II             "             ««             «      ch 

3 

(                tt               tt 

e 

Q                         «                         M                        «                0 

2 

t               tt               tt 

ch 

9             "             «*             «       sh 

2 

t               tt               tt 

sh 

9                  «                  «                 «           u 

I 

t               tt               tt 

a 

*T              «              M              «<         a^ 

I 

t                tt               tt 

0 

*j              tt              tt             tt         j 

I 

t                tt               tt 

u 

6              «              "             "          i 

<(              tt             it 

1 

5              «              «             «<         0 

4          **           "          "       a 

3             «             «             «         e 
3             w             «             «         e 
3             «             «             "        a 

3                          tt                          tt                         tt                y 

3              "              «             «      wh 

I              tt              tt             tt         I 

APPENDIXES 


I.   SIGHT 

Coordination  of  eye-movements.  —  Many  a  young 
mother  has  experienced  anxiety  because  of  the  un- 
sightly behavior  of  her  baby's  eyes.  One  eye  rolls  up,  the 
other  down  ;  one  eye  turns  to  the  right,  the  other  to  the 
left ;  one  rolls,  the  other  remains  stationary,  and  some- 
times, as  was  said  of  Socrates',  they  seem  to  try  to  look 
into  one  another.  No  wonder  the  mother  appeals  to  the 
doctor  to  know  if  the  baby's  eyes  are  "  right."  Of 
course,  she  is  assured  that  non-coordination  of  eye- 
movements  during  the  first  few  days  is  to  be  expected ; 
and  that  symmetry  and  coordination  are  acquired  only 
gradually. 

My  first  test  to  determine  whether  R.'s  eyes  would 
move  coordinately,  in  following  a  moving  object,  was 
made  when  he  was  twenty-seven  hours  old  by  slowly 
moving  back  and  forth  in  front  of  the  child's  eyes  a  small 
lamp  held  at  a  distance  of  about  four  feet.  In  this  test 
both  eyes  followed  the  light  while  it  moved  through 
a  distance  of  two  feet ;  then  he  ceased  following.  The 
coordination  was  pretty  good,  although  not  as  good  as 

334 


APPENDIXES  335 

in  normal  adults.  That  it  was  accidental  is  suggested  by 
the  fact  that  coordinate  movement  of  the  eyes  was  not 
established  until  much  later.  An  hour  later,  when  I  ob- 
served the  child's  eyes  they  were  moving  from  right  to 
left  and  up  and  down,  but  not  in  harmony.  On  the 
fourth  day,  the  right  eye  was  observed  to  be  moving  up 
and  down  while  the  left  remained  stationary.  The  note 
for  the  thirteenth  day  reads,  "  coordination  vastly  im- 
proved, but  still  far  from  perfect."  We  need  not  follow 
the  record  through  day  by  day.  On  the  thirty-eighth 
day  it  was  noted,  "  that  eyes  move  together  nearly  all  the 
time.  "  On  the  fifty-fifth  day,  one  could  still  by  careful 
watching  occasionally  see  eye-movements  which  were 
asymmetrical.  On  the  sixtieth  day  the  note  reads,  "  Co- 
ordination of  eye-movements  seems  perfect."  Thus  it 
is  seen  that  it  was  not  until  the  end  of  R.'s  second  month 
that  we  were  able  to  say  that  the  eye-movements  had 
become  fully  coordinated. 

Sensitiveness  to  light.  —  It  would  be  a  bold  imagina- 
tion which  should  undertake  to  describe  the  effect  in  the 
mind  of  the  newly  born  baby  (if  we  may  think  of  the 
child  as  having  a  mind  at  birth)  when  light  waves  begin 
to  stream  into  his  eyes.  The  baby's  mental  state  may 
resemble  our  own  when  in  the  presence  of  a  dazzling 
light,  but  it  is  not  likely  that  it  does.  More  likely  it  is 
an  experience  entirely  different  from  any  we  know,  or 
there  may  be  nothing  at  all  which  could  properly  be 


336  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

called  mental.     The    earliest    reactions  of  the   babe   to 
light,  may  be  entirely  reflex  and  unconscious. 

While  we  cannot  know  the  nature  of  the  mental  asso- 
ciates of  the  early  reactions  to  light,  or  whether  there  are 
any  such  associates,  we  may  speak  of  the  reactions  of 
the  baby's  eyes  to  different  degrees  of  light  intensity. 
The  child  R.'s  eyelids  were  observed  two  minutes 
after  birth  to  be  open  about  two  millimetres.  In  the 
dim  Hght  of  the  winter's  evening  the  lids  remained  in 
that  position.  An  hour  after  birth,  when  held  so  that 
the  light  of  a  Welsbach  gas-light  fell  on  his  eyes  they 
closed  immediately  and  remained  closed  so  long  as  he 
was  held  facing  the  hght,  but  opened  slightly  as  soon 
as  the  child's  position  was  changed  so  the  light  did 
not  strike  his  eyes  directly.  It  was  clear  that  his  eyes 
were  very  sensitive  to  bright  light.  On  the  fourth  and 
fifth  days,  the  child's  eyes  were  kept  open  in  the  mild 
light  of  a  cloudy  day.  On  the  ninth  and  twentieth  days 
I  observed,  what  has  been  noticed  frequently,  namely, 
that  the  child's  eyes  were  more  sensitive  to  hght  just 
after  waking.  On  the  thirteenth  day,  when  the  child 
was  held  so  that  he  could  look  at  the  daylight  through 
a  curtained  window,  his  expression  was  decidedly  more 
pleasant,  freer,  easier  than  when  lying  in  his  crib  where 
the  light  was  dim.  But  when  the  curtain  was  drawn  to 
one  side,  his  eyes  partially  closed  and  a  frown  appeared 
which    seemed    to   mean   that   the   brighter   light   was 


APPENDIXES  337 

slightly  painful.  This  observation  was  repeated  on  the 
fourteenth  and  fifteenth  days.  The  next  observation  of 
the  child  in  the  presence  of  light  and  brightness  was  on 
the  sixty-seventh  day  when  it  was  noted  that  he  looked 
long  and  steadily  at  a  partially  shaded  Welsbach  gas- 
light. He  seemed  to  enjoy  the  light,  and  became  fretful 
when  it  was  cut  off  from  his  direct  vision,  or  when  he 
was  turned  so  he  could  not  see  it.  Notes  similar  to  the 
preceding  one  were  made  on  the  ninety-fifth  and  ninety- 
sixth  days,  the  note  for  the  latter  date  being,  "  bright 
objects  of  all  kinds  hold  the  child's  eyes  and  seem  to 
give  pleasure." 

Perception  of  Distance.  —  When  does  the  child  begin 
to  understand  that  objects  are  distant  from  him?  and 
when  does  he  begin  to  perceive  differences  of  distance  ? 
Most  observers  agree  that  the  child  has  no  idea  of  dis- 
tance before  the  fifth  month,  though  some  name  an 
earlier  date  and  still  others  a  much  later  one.  Preyer, 
for  example,  says  that  his  child  in  his  fifty-eighth  week, 
grasped  again  and  again  for  a  lamp  in  the  ceiling  of  a 
railway  carriage,  and  in  the  ninety-sixth  week  while 
standing  on  the  ground  held  a  piece  of  paper  toward 
his  father,  who  was  looking  out  of  a  second  story  win- 
dow, expressing  the  desire  that  his  father  should  take 
the  paper  —  a  convincing  proof,  Preyer  thought,  of  "  how 
little  the  child  appreciates  distance."  It  should  be  said 
that  the  facts  related   by  Preyer  are  capable  of  another 


338  FIRST  STEPS   IN   ME^fTAL  GROWTH 

explanation  than  the  one  he  /offers.  In  the  instance  of 
the  child's  reaching  for  the  laniip  in  the  railway  coach, 
the  reaching  may  have  been  only  an  expression  of  desire 
for  the  bright  object ;  and  the  instance  of  reaching  the 
paper  toward  his  father  may  have  been,  probably  was, 
only  a  way  of  saying  that  he  wished  his  father  to  have 
the  paper,  and  not  that  he  thought  that  his  father  could 
reach  it.  Probably  the  chiljd  did  not  consider  the  ques- 
tion whether  or  not  his  father  could  reach  the  proffered 
paper. 

More  reliable  data  concerning  a  child's  idea  of  distance 
may  be  obtained  by  holding  before  him  favorite  toys,  part 
of  the  time  within  reaching  distance,  part  of  the  time 
too  far  away  to  be  reached,  and  recording  the  results ; 
that  is,  recording  the  number  of  times  the  child  reaches 
for  articles  held  within  and  beyond  reaching  distances. 
(This  method  cannot  ht  used  until  the  instinct  to  reach 
for  desired  objects  is  yell  established.  One  must  also 
make  sure  that  the  article  used  is  of  the  right  kind  to 
call  forth  the  reaching  impulse ;  and  also  that  the  article 
is  not  held  so  far  away  that  the  retinal  stimulus  is  too 
weak  to  call  forth  the  customary  reaching  reaction.) 

My  first  use  of  this  method  was  on  R.'s  134th  day 
(middle  of  the  fifth  month)  by  holding  toys  in  front  of 
him  a  few  inches  beyorid  his  reaching  distance.  At 
that  time,  he  invariably  tried  to  get  his  hands  on  the 
toys,  and  cried  when  unsuccessful.     The  experiment  was 


APPENDIXES  339 

repeated  on  the  141st  day  with  hke  results.  On  the 
146th  day  the  child  refused  to  reach  for  toys  held 
at  a  distance  of  two  feet  from  his  breast,  but  .  did 
reach  for  them  if  held  almost  within  reaching  distance. 
On  the  169th  day  he  refused  to  reach  for  toys  if  the 
distance  from  his  chest  was  eighteen  inches,  and  his 
judgment  of  the  point  at  which  he  could  get  his 
hands  upon  them  was  surprisingly  good.  My  ex- 
periments were  not  carried  further,  but  they  had  pro- 
ceeded far  enough  to  make  it  clear  that  by  the  close 
of  the  fifth  month  the  child  had  acquired  a  few  definite 
distance  habits  or  ideas  and  further  experience  was  all 
that  was  required  to  develop  them. 

I  quote,  with  slight  verbal  changes,  the  following  from 
Professor  Sully's  record  concerning  his  child's  perception 
of  distance : 

"When  the  child  was  just  six  months  old  the  father  held  an 
object  in  front  of  him  two  or  three  inches  beyond  his  reach. 
The  astute  little  fellow  made  no  movement.  He  then  gradually 
brought  it  closer  and  when  it  came  within  his  reach  he  held 
out  his  hand  and  grasped  it.  The  experiment  was  repeated 
with  slight  variations  until  the  father  was  satisfied  that  the 
child  could  distinguish  with  some  degree  of  precision  the  near 
and  the  far,  the  attainable  and  the  unattainable."  ^ 

Learning  to  look.  —  Professor  Preyer  describes  four 
stages  in  the  process  of  acquiring  the  ability  to  fixate  an 

*  Studies  of  Childhood^  p.  414. 


340  FIRST   STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

object,  or  "look"  in  the  sense  of  consciously  directing 
the  eyes  by  "  an  act  of  will."  The  first  stage  is  that  of 
staring  into  empty  space.  According  to  Preyer's  view, 
which  to  the  writer  seems  correct,  all  cases  of  apparent 
looking  at  objects  during  the  first  week  are,  in  fact,  cases 
of  staring  at  objects  which  accidentally  fall  in  the  line  of 
vision,  and  turning  the  head  or  eyes  toward  a  light  is  not 
a  "  voluntary  "  act  but  an  instinctive  one.  This,  appar- 
ently, is  the  view  of  Mrs.  Moore  as  stated  on  page  5/  of 
her  Monograph,  though  the  statement  is  made  on  page  45 
of  the  same  work  that,  "  at  twenty-nine  hours  the  child 
looked  intently  at  a  bright  light."  (The  "  looking  "  no 
doubt  was  what  is  called  "  staring  "  in  Preyer's  account.) 
My  first  observation  of  apparent  fixation  was  made  on 
R.'s  fifth  day  when  it  was  noted  that  the  child's  eyes  were 
frequently  fixed  on  a  person's  face  or  a  lighted  lamp, 
sometimes  as  long  as  thirty  seconds  at  a  time.  Of 
course,  these  were  only  stares,  as  described  above,  when 
the  eyes  accidentally  fell  on  objects  within  the  range  of 
vision.  It  was  noted  again  on  the  sixth  day  that  the 
child's  eyes  in  their  wandering  often  seemed  to  catch  and 
cling  to  bright  objects  in  the  room. 

The  first  or  staring  stage  gradually  passes  to  the  second 
stage  in  which  the  child  no  longer  seems  rapt  by  attractive 
objects,  but  begins  to  choose  the  things  he  will  look  at. 
For  example,  Preyer's  boy,  on  the  eleventh  day,  looked 
steadily  at  the  father's  face  for  a  minute  or  two,  *'  then 


APPENDIXES  341 

turned  his  head  toward  the  Hght,  which  was  close  by  in 
the  field  of  vision."  ^  At  this  stage,  the  eyes  and  head 
both  turn  in  the  direction  of  the  object.  To  illustrate : 
on  R.'s  sixteenth  day  he  turned  his  head  and  eyes  from 
the  nurse's  face,  into  which  he  had  been  gazing  for  ten 
or  fifteen  seconds,  to  a  large  bluish  shade  over  a  gas- 
fixture  which,  at  the  moment,  was  in  the  child's  field  of 
vision. 

Preyer's  third  stage  is  reached  when  the  child's  eyes, 
in  coordination,  follow  a  moving  object,  the  head  remain- 
ing at  rest.  Observers  differ  widely  in  their  reports  of 
the  earliest  following  movements  with  the  eyes  unaccom- 
panied by  movement  of  the  head.  According  to  Preyer, 
this  stage  is  not  reached  usually,  "  till  after  many 
months."  On  the  other  hand,  Tracy  reports  one  case 
of  a  child's  eyes  following  a  moving  object  in  the  second 
week;  another,  on  the  twenty-third  day.  But  most  ob- 
servers have  noticed  this  activity  first  about  the  fifth 
week,  some  as  late  as  the  sixth  or  seventh.  My  own 
notes  do  not  state  when  coordinated  movements  of  the 
eyes  alone  in  following  moving  objects,  the  head  being 
at  rest,  first  occurred.  The  last  observation  of  the  matter 
was  recorded  on  the  thirty-seventh  day  when  the  child 
followed  moving  objects  in  the  room  —  as  a  person  — by 
turning  both  eyes  and  head,  the  eyes  turning  first. 

Preyer's  fourth  stage  is  "  marked  by  the  ability,  which 

» Preyer,  Op.  cit..  Part  I,  p.  43. 


342  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

IS  retained  from  this  time  forth,  to  direct  the  eyes  toward 
an  object,"  .  .  .  also  by  seeking  "  untiringly  for  new 
objects  when  he  is  awake  and  well.  This  seeking, 
which  primarily  is  an  effort  to  give  a  definite  direction 
to  the  look  and  hold  it  there,  dates  back  to  the  first  three 
months."  ^  One  child  in  the  tenth  week  looked  for  the 
face  of  a  person  calling  her ;  another,  began  to  look  at 
his  hands  in  the  sixteenth  week.  On  the  eighty-first  day, 
Preyer's  boy  turned  his  head  in  the  direction  of  a  sound 
as  if  searching  for  its  source,  and  when  it  was  found 
held  it  fast.  On  the  sixty-seventh  day  R.  seemed  to 
look  for  the  source  of  sounds.  The  note  under  that  date 
expresses  the  doubt  that  the  child,"  consciously  seeks 
the  source  of  sounds  or  noises,"  and  suggests  that  turn- 
ing the  head  first  in  one  direction,  then  another  is  only  a 
sign  of  restlessness  or  annoyance  at  the  noise.  On  the 
seventy-third  day,  I  took  a  position  to  the  rear  and  left 
of  the  child  where  he  could  not  see  me  and  spoke  to 
him.  I  felt  sure  the  child  tried  to  turn  in  the  direction 
of  the  sound.  Then  I  stood  in  the  same  place  and  rang 
a  small  bell,  and  the  child  turned  as  before  searching,  as 
I  believed,  for  the  source  of  the  sound.^ 

1  Preyer,  Op.  cit..  Part  I,  p.  47. 

'  This  searching  for  the  source  of  sounds  as  here  described  marks  the 
transition  from  the  first  to  the  second  stage  of  infant  development  as  de- 
scribed by  Prof.  John  Dewey  in  a  notable  article  printed  in  TAe  Transac- 
tions of  tht  Illinois  Society  for  Child  Study.  According  to  Professor 
Dewey's  account  the  essential  characteristic  of  the  first  period  "  is  the 


/ 

APPENDIXES  ' '  • 

Beginning  with  R.'s  265th  day,  I  made  a  series  of  ob- 
servations of  the  child's  tendency  to  watch  or  look  after 
objects  which  he  had  let  fall  or  had  thrown  away  —  a 
matter  which  was  closely  observed  by  Preyer.  On  the 
day  named,  I  noted  that  when  he  threw  objects  away,  as 
if  to  get  rid  of  them,  he  did  not  look  after  them.  But  if 
a  ball  with  which  he  was  playing  accidentally  rolled  out  of 
his  reach  he  looked  earnestly  after  it.  On  the  288th  day 
the  child  threw  playthings  over  the  edge  of  his  crib,  and 
threw  them  away  again  and  again  if  they  were  returned 
to  him.  Whether  he  threw  the  toys  away  because  he 
was  tired  of  them,  or  to  hear  them  fall,  or  in  play,  one 
could  not  say.  The  point  in  this  connection  to  note  is 
that  the  child  did  not  follow  the  objects  with  the  eyes, 
or  seem  to  care  what  became  of  them  after  he  got  them 
out  of  his  crib.  On  the  300th  day,  R.  purposely  threw 
over  the  edge  of  his  crib,  balls,  dolls,  spools,  rattles,  but 
did  not  look  after  any  of  them  except  the  ball  of  which 
he  was  particularly  fond.  He  did  not  follow  the  ball 
while  it  was  falling  from  his  hands,  but  merely  looked  in 
the  general  direction  it  had  gone,  as  if  looking  for  it.  At 
this  point,  my  observations  of  the  impulse  to  follow 
moving  objects  were  discontinued. 

simultaneous  and  relatively  independent  maturing  of  the  functions  cor- 
responding to  such  organs  as  the  eye,  ear,  etc."  The  second  period  is 
characterized  by  the  cooperation  of  two  or  more  functions,  like  seeing 
and  hearing,  which  hitherto  have  developed  in  relative  independence  of 
one  another.     See  Illinois  Transactions,  etc.,  Vol.  IV,  p.  65!?. 


344  FIRST  STEPS  IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

Movements  of  the  eyelids.  —  It  is  well  known  that  a 
threatening  motion  toward  a  baby's  eyes  does  not  cause, 
in  the  first  days  or  weeks,  blinking  or  winking  as  it  does 
in  an  older  child.  Tracy  says  that  in  some  cases  the 
threatening  motion  fails  to  call  forth  the  batting  or  wink- 
ing response  in  children  two  months  old.  On  R.'s  fifth, 
thirteenth,  nineteenth,  twenty-sixth,  thirty-second,  and 
thirty-eighth  days  I  made  tests  to  determine  the  reaction 
of  his  eyes  to  a  threatening  motion  of  the  hand  toward 
them.  It  was  not  until  the  last  named  day  that  I  suc- 
ceeded in  calling  forth  any  reaction.  On  that  day,  the 
right  eyelid  closed  slightly  and  feebly  when  I  made  a 
motion  as  if  to  strike  the  child  in  the  face,  but  the  left 
eyelid  did  not  move.  The  following  day,  I  repeated  the 
experiment,  but  got  no  response.  Then  five  days  later, 
when  I  suddenly  moved  my  hand  toward  the  child's  face, 
I  thought  there  was  a  slight  twitching,  as  if  to  close, 
noticeable  in  both  eyes,  but  it  was  so  faint  that  I  was  not 
sure.  The  note  for  the  forty-ninth  day  reads,  "  Both 
eyes  blink  feebly,  the  right  more  than  the  left,  when  one 
makes  a  motion  as  if  to  strike  the  baby  in  the  face." 
The  observations  of  this  activity  were  not  recorded  be- 
yond the  seventh  week. 

11.      HEARING 

The  result  of  my  observations  and  tests  of  the  ability 
of  the  newly  born  baby  to  hear  agrees  with  tlie  generally 


APPENDIXES  345 

accepted  belief  that  children  are  deaf  at  birth  and  re- 
main so  for  a  period  which  varies  from  several  hours  to 
days,  or  even  weeks  after  birth.  It  is  not  easy  to  deter- 
mine very  accurately  the  earliest  moment  when  sounds 
are  first  heard :  first,  because  the  child  may  not  show,  as 
by  a  start,  that  he  hears ;  and  second,  because  the  start 
when  it  does  appear  may  be  due  to  some  other  cause 
than  sounds,  ^.  ^.,  from  a  jar  or  from  air  waves  striking 
the  face. 

The  first  test  of  R.'s  ability  to  hear  was  made  when 
the  child  was  twenty  hours  old  by  rapping  violently  on 
the  bottom  of  a  tin  pan,  held  at  a  distance  of  four  feet 
from  the  child's  head.  A  screen  was  held  in  front  of  the 
child's  head  so  as  to  prevent  air-waves  from  the  pan  from 
striking  his  head  or  face.  The  rapping  produced  no  vis- 
ible effect  whatever.  Seven  hours  later,  I  struck  two 
books  together  as  hard  as  I  could,  but  the  child  lay  as 
quietly  as  if  stone  deaf.  The  test  with  the  tin  pan  was 
repeated  in  the  child's  forty-fifth  hour,  but  the  rapping 
was  not  noticed.  Another  test  was  made  on  the  third 
day  by  rapping  a  book  sharply  with  a  folded  newspaper 
at  a  distance  of  three  feet  from  the  child,  but  the  raps 
were  entirely  without  effect  on  the  child's  expression. 
Again,  on  the  fifth  day,  I  rang  a  small  breakfast  bell  near 
the  child's  ears,  but  without  visible  effect.  Tests  were 
made  on  the  seventh  day  by  ringing  a  bell,  and  by  whist- 
ling near  the  child.     Still  he  paid  no  attention.     On  the 


346  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

fourteenth  day,  the  child  seemed  to  hear  a  small  rattle 
when  it  was  shaken  rapidly,  but  the  reaction  was  feeble, 
which  led  us  to  think  that  hearing  if  present  at  all  was 
still  very  dull.  On  the  seventeenth  day,  the  child  heard 
sharp  hand-clapping,  but  did  not  start  quickly.  Finally, 
on  the  nineteenth  day  appeared  a  great  leap  in  acuteness 
of  hearing.  While  the  child  lay  nursing,  a  small  bell  was 
rung  gently  at  a  distance  of  ten  feet  from  him.  He 
at  once  stopped  nursing,  held  his  breath,  and  seemed 
frightened.  Again,  in  a  few  moments,  the  bell  was  rung 
and  the  child  stopped  nursing  and  began  to  cry.  The 
ears  seemed  very  sensitive,  for  the  bell  was  not  rung 
loudly  or  long  at  a  time.  From  these  notes  i'gAppears 
that  R.'s  hearing  did  not  become  normally  acufe  until 
the  third  week. 

Turning  in  the  direction  of  sounds.  —  The  first  apparent 
searching  for  the  source  of  a  sound  appeared,  as  we  saw 
above,  on  R.'s  sixty-seventh  day.  When  I  stood  out  of 
the  child's  sight  and  spoke  to  him  he  turned  his  head 
from  side  to  side  as  if  hunting  for  the  sound.  On  the 
seventy-third  day,  I  could  not  doubt  that  the  child 
looked  about  searching  when  I  stood  to  his  left  and  rear 
and  spoke  to  him,  or  rang  a  small  bell.  Again,  on  the 
io6th  day  it  was  noticed  that  if  one  stood  out  of  his  sight 
and  spoke  to  him,  he  looked  around  as  if  searching.  He 
did  not  yet  turn  "  with  the  certainty  of  a  reflex  "  in  the 
direction  of  a  sound.     The  turning  was  as  if  searching. 


APPENDIXES  347 

Even  as  late  as  the  last  day  of  the  fourth  month  the  child 
did  not  turn  the  head  promptly  in  the  direction  of  sounds. 
That  ability  was  first  noticed  on  the  135th  day  (middle  of 
the  fifth  month).  From  that  time  on,  he  rarely  was  in 
doubt  as  to  the  direction  of  sounds  unless  the  direction 
was  obscured  so  that  an  adult  would  have  been  puzzled. 

III.       LEARNING   TO   STAND   ALONE 

R.'s  first  attempts  t«*&tand  were  made  in  the  forty-sixth 
week  (316th  day)  when  he  pulled  himself  up  to  a  chair 
and  stood  in  a  leaning,  tottering  position.  His  eagerness 
to  stand  grew  rapidly,  and  by  the  328th  day  he  would 
pull  himself  to  a  standing  position  by  catching  hold  of 
one's  clothing,  or  articles  of  furniture,  or  whatever  would 
afford  him  a  chance  to  pull.  The  standing  at  this  time 
was,  as  the  note  says,  "  very  wabbly,"  but  it  was  an  im- 
portant practice  stage  in  learning  to  stand  alone.  By  the 
close  of  the  first  year  the  child  took  great  delight  in 
standing  at  chairs,  by  one's  side,  or  by  his  crib,  and  grew 
fretful  and  restless  if  left  sitting  where  he  could  not  reach 
something  by  which  he  might  pull  himself  to  his  feet. 
(The  child  did  not  creep  at  that  time.)  .  .  .  We 
frequently  tried  to  get  the  child  to  stand  alone,  but  it  was 
not  until  the  sixtieth  week  that  he  would  try  to  stand 
without  support.  Then,  he  stood  unsupported  two  or 
three  seconds,  but  was  unsteady  and  seemed  afraid  of 
falling.     He  learned  to  stand  alone  rapidly,  so  that  a  note 


348  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

made  in  the  latter  part  of  the  sixty-second  week  reads, 
"  the  child  enjoys  standing  alone  for  a  few  seconds  at  a 
time,  and  seems  to  think  of  the  exercise  as  a  play." 

When  one  compares  R.'s  record  with  those  quoted  by 
Preyer  (Vol.  I,  p.  269f.)  it  is  seen  that  he  was  late  in 
learning  to  stand  alone.  One  child  could  get  up  alone 
in  her  tenth  month ;  another  stood  alone  in  the  forty- 
second  week.  "  Sigismund  puts  the  date  of  first  attempts 
to  stand  at  the  eighteenth  to  the  twenty-sixth  week." 

IV.      LEARNING  TO  WALK 

Walking  is  instinctive  in  the  sense  that  the  normal, 
healthy  child  comes  sooner  or  later,  and  without  assist- 
ance from  his  elders,  to  feel  the  impulse  to  walk.  Preyer 
held  that  infants  would  adopt  the  upright  position  of 
walking  even  if  they  were  removed  from  the  suggestion 
or  example  of  other  human  beings. 

The  date  of  the  first  attempts  to  walk  varies  greatly. 
Some  children  begin  learning  to  walk  as  early  as  the 
eighth  month  ;  others,  not  until  as  late  even  as  the  twenty- 
fourth  month.  -*^8^^ 

There  are  three  fairly  well  marked  stages  in  learning  to 
walk :  first,  when  the  child  is  led  by  an  older  person,  or 
when  he  leans  on  something  movable,  a  chair,  e.  g.,  and 
pushes  it  in  front  of  him ;  second,  when  the  child  is  able 
to  set  out  alone,  but  needs  the  support  of  articles  of  fur- 
niture, or  the  side  of  the  room  to  keep  from  falling ;  third, 


APPENDIXES  349 

when  the  child  walks  about  freely  without  support  of  any 
kind. 

Record  of  R!s  learning  to  walk.  —  The  child  R.  made 
his  first  attempt  at  walking  in  the  forty-eighth  week  (331st 
day)  when  he  climbed  up  and  leaned  on  the  seat  of  a 
rocking-chair,  pushed  the  chair  in  front  of  him,  taking 
awkward,  straggling  steps,  or  rather  half  dragged  his  feet 
as  he  hung  in  the  seat  of  the  rocker.  349th  day.  —  The 
child  took  great  pleasure  in  clinging  to  one's  fingers  and 
being  led  about  the  room,  half  dragging  his  feet,  half 
walking.  359th  day.  —  Previous  to  this  date  the  child 
has  not  walked  in  the  true  sense ;  the  feet  and  legs  were 
rather  half  dragged  along.  Now  the  child  is  beginning 
to  raise  the  feet  as  he  moves  along,  clinging  to  articles  of 
furniture  or  one's  fingers  for  support.  The  whole  per- 
formance looks  more  like  real  walking.  385th  day.  —  In 
order  to  get  a  toy  the  child  walked  a  distance  of  ten  feet 
by  holding  to  the  edge  of  his  crib  and  a  couch.  It 
will  be  noted  that  almost  eight  weeks  elapsed  between 
the  first  straggling  walking  —  when  supported  by  the 
rocker  pushed  in  front  of  him  —  and  walking  which  was 
self-inijtiated,  but  which  still  needed  support.  Another 
period  of  seven  weeks  must  pass  before  the  child  will  be 
able  to  move  about  freely,  not  caring  for  the  support  of 
furniture,  or  the  sides  of  the  room,  or  another  person's 
hands.  The  steps  and  the  rate  of  R.'s  passing  from  the 
second  to  the  third  stage  will  be  seen  from  the  following 


1 


350  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

notes  from  the  record:  385th  day, —  The  child  walks 
around  his  crib  and  along  a  couch  by  holding  to  them. 
389th  day,  —  Walks  around  the  room  by  holdmg  to  fur^ 
niture  or  by  placing  his  hands  against  the  wall.  415th 
day,  —  Will  not  try  to  walk  or  stand  alone.  Gets  about 
the  room  by  running  short  distances  from  one  piece  of 
furniture  to  another.  434th  day,  —  The  child  takes  two 
or  three  steps  without  support,  but  is  afraid  of  faUing. 
445th  day,  —  Walked  about  three  feet  without  support. 
448th  day,  —  Walked  about  six  feet  unsupported.  457th 
day,  ^—  Walks  about  the  house  freely,  falling  or  toppling 
over  very  rarely.  473d  day,  —  The  child  climbed  a  half 
dozen  steps  up  a  flight  of  stairs,  unaided.  In  brief,  R. 
could  walk  alone  a  short  distance  before  the  end  of  the 
fifteenth  month  ;  by  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  month, 
walking  alone  was  well  established. 


APPENDIXES 


351 


Bodily  measurements  of  R.  and  J.  from  birth  to  the  end  of  the 

second  year. 

The  height  and  length  measurements  were  gotten  by  laying  the  child  on  a  table ^ 
or  the  bare  floor y  then  marking  with  a  pencil  at  the  heady  feet,  and  crotch. 


Child  R. 

Height. 

Length 
of  Body. 

Weight. 

C/iiV^  7. 

Height. 

Length 
of  Body. 

Weight. 

At  birth. 

21     in. 

9yz 

lbs. 

At  birth. 

20^  in 

14 

in. 

8X  lbs. 

"     I  mo. 

loys 

« 

« 

I  mo. 

9    " 

"     2  mo. 

22^  « 

15X  in. 

13}4 

<( 

« 

2  mo. 

"     3  mo. 

25      « 

17       " 

16 

i( 

<( 

3  mo- 

23>^" 

12X    " 

"     4  mo. 

27^  « 

18 

« 

<( 

4  mo. 

"     5  mo. 

" 

5  mo. 

26^" 

14K    " 

"     6  mo. 

28" 

« 

6  mo. 

26%  " 

14X    " 

"     7  mo. 

« 

7  mo. 

28" 

15X    " 

«     8  mo. 

29^  « 

« 

8  mo. 

16    " 

"     9  mo. 

« 

9  mo. 

16X    " 

"   10  mo. 

30^" 

22K 

« 

" 

10  mo. 

29>^" 

l^% 

(( 

16   " 

«   II  mo. 

3i>^" 

24 

« 

<( 

II  mo. 

30X" 

18    « 

"   12  mo. 

23 

« 

« 

12  mo. 

19X    " 

"13  mo. 

32X" 

25 

« 

« 

13  mo. 

30K" 

l^Vz    " 

*'  14  mo. 

26 

(1 

« 

14  mo. 

3IX" 

19K 

« 

20;^    « 

"  15  mo. 

29X 

(( 

« 

15  mo. 

23X    " 

"  16  mo. 

« 

16  mo. 

^sVz  " 

«  17  mo. 

« 

17  mo. 

zzyi'' 

21X 

(( 

26X  " 

«  18  mo. 

« 

18  mo. 

«  19  mo. 

« 

19  mo. 

30X  " 

"  20  mo. 

J 

« 

20  mo. 

> 

"21  mo. 

« 

21  mo. 

* 

"  22  mo. 

« 

32  mo. 

zsVz'' 

22X 

« 

33  " 

«  23  mo. 

ZSVz" 

23X" 

ZVA 

« 

M 

23  mo. 

"  24  mo. 

3SH" 

34 

« 

« 

24  mo. 

t- 

HOW  A  ONE  YEAR  OLD  BABY  SPENT  FORTY -FIVE  MINUTES 

Scene  :  —  The  baby  seated  comfortably  on  a  rug  near 
open  door,  and  surrounded  by  playthings,  including  a 
small  wooden  box,  two  osage  (hedge)  apples,  five  green 
walnuts,  a  toy  croquet  mallet,  a  black  harness  ring,  a 
small  conch  shell,  a  fruit-jar  cover,  a  celluloid  rattle,  and 
a  rubber  rattle. 


352  FIRST  STEPS  IN  MENTAL  GROWTH 

What  the  baby  did  in  the  forty-five-minutes.  —  Picked  up 
the  mallet ;  took  osage  apple  out  of  the  box  and  struck 
or  punched  it  with  the  mallet ;  dropped  mallet  and  apple ; 
picked  up  the  apple  and  threw  it ;  picked  up  walnut  and 
threw  it;  picked  up  can-lid,  then  ring,  bit  ring,  threw 
can-lid ;  then  put  the  ring  in  his  mouth  and  held  it  there 
while  he  crawled  to  the  lid ;  picked  up  the  lid  saying  a ; 
then  dropped  hd ;  bit  the  ring  holding  it  first  in  the  right 
hand,  then  the  left ;  dropped  the  ring,  and  leaned  for- 
ward on  the  hands  and  knees ;  picked  up  the  can-lid ; 
laid  it  down  and  picked  up  mallet  with  his  left  hand  and 
tried  to  strike  the  lid  with  it ;  lay  on  his  left  side  and 
made  sweeping  strokes  at  the  lid ;  let  the  mallet  fall  and 
picked  up  a  walnut ;  dropped  the  walnut  and  pulled  the 
box  of  toys  (shells  and  rattles)  toward  him ;  took  walnut 
and  let  it  fall  in  the  box  three  times  —  apparently  to  hear 
the  noise ;  picked  up  the  ring  and  put  it  in  his  mouth ; 
held  ring  in  his  mouth  as  he  crawled  and  got  two  wal- 
nuts ;  let  the  ring  fall ;  also  the  walnuts ;  picked  up  a 
stray  feather ;  picked  up  a  walnut  and  bit  it ;  then  turned 
the  walnut  over  and  over  looking  at  it ;  threw  walnut 
down ;  picked  up  the  mallet  and  pounded  the  box ;  threw 
mallet  down  and  crept  to  me,  then  to  the  door ;  gave  the 
door  a  few  swings,  then  crept  back  toward  me ;  stopped 
to  pull  at  the  edge  of  the  rug,  then  crept  to  the  box ; 
picked  up  mallet  and  threw  it  down  ;  then  picked  it  up 
again  and  pounded  the  box  and  tlie  floor ;  examined  the 


APPENDIXES  353 

mallet  handle ;  let  the  mallet  fall ;  picked  it  up  with  the 
left  hand  ;  gave  his  eyes  a  "  sleepy  rub  "  with  the  right 
hand ;  struck  box  with  the  mallet ;  dropped  the  mallet ; 
pulled  the  box  onto  his  lap,  then  pushed  it  away ;  then 
pulled  it  to  his  breast ;  set  it  on  the  floor ;  picked  up  the 
ring  in  his  right  hand,  walnut  in  the  left ;  let  ring  fall  and 
picked  up  another  walnut ;  dropped  one  walnut  and  held 
the  remaining  one  in  the  left  hand ;  looked  it  over,  mov- 
ing his  lips  the  while,  but  made  no  sound ;  held  the  wal- 
nut in  both  hands  ;  let  it  fall ;  leaned  forward  and  got  the 
rattle ;  let  rattle  fall ;  leaned  over  and  got  shell  and  rat- 
tle ;  looked  at  both ;  carried  shell  to  mouth ;  dropped 
rattle,  dropped  shell,  picked  up  walnut  with  left  hand  and 
put  it  in  the  right  hand  with  an  energetic  movement ; 
looked  at  the  walnut  carefully ;  let  it  fall.  Then  followed 
a  performance  the  meaning  of  which  I  was  unable  to 
guess.  The  child  picked  up  the  walnut  with  the  left 
hand  and  placed  it  with  great  care,  and,  apparently,  with 
great  effort,  in  his  right  hand ;  then  he  looked  very 
seriously  for  two  or  three  seconds  at  the  empty  left  hand. 
Then  he  took  the  walnut  out  of  the  right  hand  and  re- 
peated the  laborious  process  of  replacing  it  in  the  right 
hand  ;  then  he  gave  the  empty  left  hand  another  search- 
ing look.  This  was  repeated  nine  times,  but  for  what 
purpose  I  have  no  idea.  He  then  dropped  the  walnut, 
and  picked  up  the  can-lid  and  tried  to  put  it  on  his  fin- 
gers, i.  e.y  tried  to  get  the  lid  to  stick  on  his  hand  as  it 


354  FIRST  STEPS   IN   MENTAL  GROWTH 

would  on  a  can ;  fretted  a  little,  then  pitched  forward  on 
his  hands,  picked  up  the  osage  apple  which  he  carried  to 
his  mouth  ;  started  quickly  when  I  made  a  noise  "  ka  "  to 
get  him  to  quit  mouthing  the  apple ;  dropped  the  apple 
and  picked  up  a  rubber  rattle,  and  gave  it  a  few  flourishes 
first  with  the  left  hand,  then  the  right ;  let  rattle  fall  and 
picked  up  mallet  with  left  hand  ;  dropped  mallet,  pitched 
forward  and  fingered  the  brass  roller  of  a  couch  with  the 
left  forefinger ;  scratched  the  floor  matting  with  the  left 
forefinger ;  sat  up ;  picked  up  can-lid  with  the  left  hand ; 
passed  it  to  right  hand  and  struck  the  floor ;  let  lid  fall 
and  fretted  a  little;  leaned  forward  and  crawled  to  the 
edge  of  rug  which  he  tugged  at  with  his  left  hand ;  sat 
up ;  fretted ;  picked  up  mallet  and  flourished  it  with  the 
left  hand,  then  with  right ;  pounded  floor ;  struck  hedge- 
apple  ;  picked  up  apple  with  left  hand ;  laid  it  down  and 
took  mallet  in  the  left  hand,  struck  and  rolled  apple  around 
with  it ;  took  mallet  in  right  hand,  then  left ;  struck  apple 
until  it  was  out  of  his  reach ;  then  settled  back  and 
pounded  floor ;  saw  G.  outside  the  door  and  cried  to  her ; 
laughed  when  she  called  to  him ;  laid  mallet  down ;  cried 
to  G. ;  peered  through  the  screen  at  her  crying,  a  dee, 
ha,  ha  ;  crawled  to  the  screen  and  tried  to  get  out,  saying, 
e,  dee,  uh,  a ;  settled  back  and  sat  rubbing  his  eyes ;  fret- 
ted a  little ;  got  another  glimpse  of  G.,  as  she  walked 
about  the  lawn,  and  plunged  forward  toward  her  with  a 
joyful  cry  saying,  "  dee,  uh,  eh,  eh,  de,  ye,  ti,  be,  eh,  it, 


APPENDIXES  355 

te,  ye,  te,  ta,  uh,  ah,  da,  du,  as  G.  talked  to  him ;  then 
laughed  hard  at  a  peek-a-boo  play  with  his  mother. 
When  this  play  was  over  he  began  to  fret,  and  was  taken 
for  his  afternoon  nap. 


INDEX 


[Authorities  cited  are  printed  in  small  capitals.] 


Adjectives,  number  of,  327. 
^Esthetic  interest  in  form,  181. 
Anger,    iiyff. ;     causes    of,    117; 

manner    of    expressing,    ligff., 

122. 
Animals,   fear    of,   97  ff. ;    fear    of 

wild,    105  ;  naming   pictures   of, 

259  ;  naming  animals,  323. 
Articulation,  tests  of,  330  ff. 
Association,    182  fF. ;  defined,   182; 

as  a  fundamental  mental  process, 

182 f.;  early  associations,  186 ff.; 

of  objects  and  their  names,  199. 

Babbling,  prelinguistic,  286 ;  kinds 

of,  distinguished,  288. 
Baby,  fear  of  a  newly-born,  113; 

play  of  one  year  old,  35 1  fF. 
Bain,  A.,  185. 
Baldwin,  J.  M.,  11,  37,  45,  54,  55, 

125,  127,  148,  158,  212,  235. 
Ball,  a  favorite  plaything,  242. 
Bell,  C,  16. 
BiNET,  150. 
Black,  fear  of  persons  dressed  in, 

94,  108. 
Blinking,  344. 
Bodily  measurements,  351. 
BosANQUET,    B.,    on     essence     of 

counting,  168. 
Brehm,  98. 

BUCKMAN,  19. 
BURK,  F.,  16,  20. 

Cats,  fear  of,  98  f. ;  pictures  of,  not 

feared,  100. 
Champneys,  93. 
Clasping,  reflex,  21. 
Collins,  on  mechanism  of  early 

speech,  284. 


Color,     146  flf. ;    discrimination    of, 

146  f.;  methods  of  investigating 

color       discrimination,       148  ff. ; 

Baldwin's  experiments  on,  149  f. ; 

teaching    color    names,     l5lfF. ; 

color  preferences,  158  ff. 
CoMPAYRE,  G.,  210,  212,  215,  227. 
Constructive  impulse,  influence  of 

in  play,  242. 
Cooke,  E.,  56. 
Coordination,  of  hand  and  eye  in 

drawing,  52. 
Creeping,  7,  347. 
Crowing ;  see  Babbling. 
Crying,  reflex,  282. 
Cups,  manner  of  picking  up,  41. 
Curiosity,    conflict    between,    and 

fear,  98. 

Darwin,  C,  i,  16,  90, 95,  99,  192, 

269,  284,  286,  290. 

Desire,  expression  of,  317. 

Da  VIES,  A.  E.,  274. 

Dewey,  J.,  6,  10,  14,  342,  note. 

Discomfort,  crying  in,  284. 

Discrimination,  color,  146. 

Distance,  perception  of,  337. 

Dogs,  fear  of,  loif. ;  pictures  of, 
not  feared,  102. 

Doll,  imitative  play  with,  I36f. 

Draw,  stages  in  learning  to,  47  ff. 

Drawing,  47  ff. ;  influence  of  imita- 
tive impulse  on  early,  47  f. ;  first 
purposive  penciling,  48;  copying 
models  in,  54;  differentiation  of 
forms  in,  55  f, ;  "  tracery  imita- 
tion" in,  55;  drawing  man,  56; 
defects  of  early,  52,  61  ff.  ;  man- 
ner of  representing  hands,  legs, 
eyes,   etc.,   70;    development  of 


357 


358 


INDEX 


ability  to  draw  compared  with 
evolution  of  articulate  sentence, 
311,  note. 

Egger,  E.,  210. 

Emotions,  classed  according  to  or- 
der of  appearance,  73,  83  flF. ; 
change  rapidly,  113;  contagion 
of,  125. 

Envy,  imitation  shades  into,  143. 

Extension  of  meaning  of  words,  313. 

Eye-movements,  coordination  of, 
334. 

Eyelids,  movements  of,  344. 

Falling,  fear  of.  III  f. 

Fear,  83  tf. ;  causes  of  fear  reaction, 
86  £F. ;  heredity  as  cause  of,  87 ; 
sound  fears,  88  ;  of  strange 
sounds,  91 ;  of  a  scowling  face, 
91  ;  of  the  mysterious  and  unex- 
pected, 93;  of  visible  things, 
94  ff. ;  of  the  sea,  95  ;  caused  by 
sudden  changes  in  surroundings, 
96;  of  animals,  97  ;  miscellaneous 
fears,  115. 

Feelings,  and  their  expression, 
72  flF. ;  sense,  74  ;  of  pleasure, 
75 ;  causes  of  pleasant  expres- 
sions, 76  f. ;  causes  of  unpleasant, 
80  flF, ;  see  Fear  and  Anger. 

FiSKE,  J.,  16,  191. 

Following  with  the  eyes,  343, 

Form,  1 74  flF. ;  classifications  based 
on,  175 ;  teaching  form  names, 
176;  memory  for  form  names, 
178;  application  of  form  names, 
179  f. ;  aesthetic  interest  in,  181. 

Furs,  fear  of,  1 14. 

Games;  see  Play. 
Generalization  of  terms  used,  313. 
Grasping,  22. 
Grimaces,   when    trying    to   recall 

names,  223. 
Growth  in  height  and  weight,  table 

of,  351- 


Hall,  G.  S.,  87  f.,  97,  109,  114, 
122. 

Hand,  learning  to  use  the  hands, 
27  ff. ;  manner  of  drawing  the, 
68  flF. ;  imitative  wave  of,  128, 
note. 

Hand  and  arm  movements,  de- 
velopment of,  1 6  flF.  ;  classifica- 
tion of,  17 ;  spontaneous,  18 ; 
reflex,  21;  instinctive,  22;  idea- 
tional, 27  f. 

Harris,  W.  T.,  174 

Head,  imitative  nod  of  the,  131. 

Hearing,  344;  turning  in  the  di- 
rection of  sounds,  346. 

Horse,  drawings  of,  62;  fear  of, 
104. 

"  I,"  first  use  of,  308,  325. 

Ideational  hand-movements,  27  flF. 

Image,  behavior  of  animals  toward 
their,  268  ;  behavior  of  child  be- 
fore his,  270  flF. ;  child's  manner 
of  regarding  his,  275  ;  jif^- Mirror. 

Imagination,  226  flF. ;  and  memory 
distinguished,  226;  active  and 
passive,  distinguished,  226;  be- 
ginnings of,  228;  in  expressions 
of  desire,  230 ;  in  practical  activ- 
ities, 231  f.;  in  play,  234;  con- 
structive, in  free  play,  235 ;  as- 
similative, 238. 

Imitation,  development  of,  1 24 flF.; 
earliest  forms  of,  125  ;  conscious, 
127;  impulse  to  imitate  compli- 
cated movements,  130;  of  others' 
bodily  movements,  131 ;  stimuli 
to  imitative  actions,  132^  pur- 
posive, 133 ;  rapid  growth  of, 
134;  experiments  on  impulse  to 
imitate,  134 ;  imitative  responses 
spontaneous,  135  ;  dramatic,  136; 
of  fine  movements,  137  ;  of  com- 
plex actions,  138;  improvement 
in,  139;  as  means  to  desired 
ends,  140;  in  order  to  perfect 
ideas,  141 ;  of  new  actions,  142 ; 
shades  into  selfishness,  143  f. 


INDEX 


359 


Impatience,  expression  of,  119, 121. 

Infancy,  growth  of  interest  in  the 

psychology  of,  2f 
Infant  activities,  difficult  to  classify, 

13- 

Inheritance  of  fear,  87. 
Insects,  fear  of,  103. 
Instinctive  hand  movements,  22. 

James,  W.,  5,  91, 97, 124, 182, 183, 

185. 
Jespersen,  O.,  279. 

Kant,  L,  74. 

King,  I.,  10,  74,  85,  127. 

Kline,  L.,  296. 

Language,  278  ff. ;  sources  of  inter- 
est in  speech  of  infancy,  278  f. ; 
stages  in  learning,  281  ff.;  be- 
ginnings of,  282;  prelinguistic 
babbling,  286 ;  objects  and  names 
associated,  288;  beginnings  of 
imitative  speech,  293;  first  ex- 
pressions of  wishes  and  ideas, 
294  f;  attainments  during  the 
first  year,  296 ;  principal  features 
of  R.'s  speech  during  first  two 
years,  317 ff.;  first  use  of  words 
in  naming  objects,  318. 

Laughter,  first,  79. 

Learning  to  use  spoon  and  fork, 
30 ;  to  throw  a  ball,  32 ;  to  catch 
a  ball,  35 ;  to  open  a  door,  35  f. ; 
to  turn  leaves  in  books,  37  ;  to 
use  a  pair  of  scissors,  38;  to 
turn  top  on  paste  bottle,  39 ;  to 
put  on  shoes,  40. 

Leroy,  163. 

Light,  sensitiveness  to,  335. 

Linder,  289. 

Localization  of  sound,  190. 

Locomotive,  drawings  of,  65. 

Look,  stages  in  learning  to,  339  ff. 

Man,  learning  to  draw  a,  56  ff. 
Measurements,  bodily,  351. 


Memory,  202  ff. ;  rudimentary  forms 
of,  202  f. ;  elementary,  202  f  ; 
habit,  204 ;  primary  memory  im- 
ages, 205 ;  imitative,  206 ;  dif- 
ferences between  infant  and  adult, 
208  ff. ;  weakness  of  infant's,  208 ; 
increasing  tenacity  of,  212  f.;  in- 
fant's memory  images  not  local- 
ized in  time  and  space,  215  ff. ; 
infants'  memories  sense-excited, 
217  ;  absence  of  trains  of  imagery 
in  infancy,  220;  growth  of  vol- 
untary recollection,  221  ff. 

Mirror,  behavior  of  animals  before 
a,  268  f. ;  Darwin's  and  Preyer's 
experiments,  270  fif. ;  observa- 
tions of  infants*  behavior  before 
a,  272  ff. 

Monkeys',  fear  of  snakes,  98. 

Moore,  K.  C,  118,  126,  147,  218, 
221,  227,  253,  255,  287,  295. 

Movements ;  see  Hand. 

MuMFORD,  A.  A.,  19. 

Negation,  manner  of  expressing, 
310. 

Nouns,  number  of  in  R.'s  early 
speech,  327. 

Number,  162 ff.;  simplest  forms  of 
number  idea,  162 ;  ideas  of,  and 
magnitude  distinguished,  162  f. ; 
lower  animals  do  not  have  idea 
of,  163;  rudimentary  forms  of 
the  number  notion,  166,  168; 
record  of  an  attempt  to  teach  a 
child  number,  167  ff. 

Parts  of  speech,  327. 

Perez,  B.,  212. 

Photographs,  naming,  264. 

Pictures,  250 ff.;  child's  first  atti- 
tude toward,  250 ;  and  real  ob- 
jects distinguished,  25 1 ;  kinds 
of,  recognized  first,  253;  regard 
for  position  of,  254  f. ;  preference 
for  certain,  256  f. ;  no  preference 
for  colored,  257 ;  recognition  of 
pictures  of  animals,  258;  recog- 


36o 


INDEX 


nition  of  drawings  of  the  human 
face,  261 ;  nammg  photographs, 
264;  experiment  with  "  divided  " 

'    pictures,  265  ff. 

Play,  239  ff. ;  stage  of  sensuous, 
239  f.;  record  of  R.'s  play  ac- 
tivities, 240  ff. ;  influence  of  imi- 
tative impulse  on,  241,  244;  the 
ball  as  a  favorite  plaything,  242 ; 
influence  of  constructive  impulse 
on,  242;  desire  for  companion- 
ship in,  242 ;  R.'s  play  with  other 
children,  243,  245,  247 ;  see  Im- 
agination. 

Playthings,  240  ff. 

Preyer,  W.,  2,  18,  19,  90, 95,  108, 
126,  127,  130,  131,  147, 149,  163, 
164,  168,  269,  271,  282,  287,  289, 
291,  295,  298,  3CX),  302,  337,339. 

Profile  drawings  of  human  face, 
naming,  264. 

Pronouns,  early  use  of,  308. 

Psychology,  of  infancy,  teacher's  in- 
terest in,  4  f. ;  difficulties  in  field 
of  child,  6  ff. ;  inadequacy  of  the 
terminology  of  the  faculty,  14. 

Questions,  first,  325. 

Reaching  and  grasping,  22ff.  j  first, 

25- 

Reflection ;  see  Image. 

Reflex  hand-movements,  21 ;  cry- 
ing, 282. 

Right  and  left  hands,  use  of,  43  f. 

Robinson,  L.,  19. 

Romanes,  G.  J.,  163. 

Selfishness,  instances  of  apparent, 
HZU  233. 

Sentence,  development  of  the, 
298  ff. ;  number  of  words  in  early, 
303;  law  governing  selection  of 
words  in  first,  304  f. ;  order  of 
words  in,  306;  difficulties  of  in- 
flection, 307;  pronouns,  308; 
expression  of  negation,  310; 
table  illustrating  development  of, 
312  f. 


Shinn,  M.  W.,  73,  89,94, 107, 126, 
147,  i5i»  179.  181,187,188,191, 
193,  203,  205,  250, 252, 253,  256, 
257,  290,  298. 

Shyness,  108. 

SiGiSMUND,  290,  294,  348. 

Sight,  334. 

Small,  296. 

Sounds,  fear  of,  88  ff. 

Space,  relations,  memory  of,  215. 

Speech;  see  Language. 

Spencer,  H.,  70,  269. 

Spontaneous  movements,  18. 

Stamping  in  anger,  122. 

Standing  alone,  347. 

Sternberg,  77. 

Storms,  fear  of,  87,  108. 

Stout,  G.  T.,  125. 

Strangers,  fear  of,  106  ff. 

Sully,  J.,  3,  10,  18,  22,  54,  56,  68, 
73.  83.  89,  93»  95'  96,  108,  165, 
216,  227,  236,  254,  277, 287,  294, 

307*  339. 
Sympathy,  expressions  of,  250  f. 
Surprise,   and    fear   distinguished, 

83  f. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.,  296. 

Thumb,   not    contraposed    in   first 

clasping,  21. 
Thunder;  see  Storms. 
Tiedemann,  187. 
Time,  first  ideas  of,  216  f. 
Titchener,  E.  B.,  202. 
Toys ;  see  Playthings. 
Tracy,  F.,  187,  212,  344. 

Verbs,  table  showing  number  of  in 

early  speech,  327. 
Visible  objects,  fear  of,  94  ff. 
Vocabulary,  R.'s,  326  f. 

Walk,  stages  in  learning  to,  348  ff. 
Words,   too    wide    application    of, 
313  ff.;    pronunciation    of,   334, 

WUNDT,  W.,  203. 


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